Pokemon Drama Island
by PikaScootaloo
Summary: Only three things are infinite: time, human stupidity, and the amount of Pokemon/Total Drama crossovers featuring something like thirty-four new Pokemon with hosts like an Azelf and a sidekick/cook/sadly secondary character like a Rotom. This is exactly that. Episode five (Trivial Pursuits) is up.
1. Not-So-Happy Campers Part 1

"Yo! We're live in the Sevii Ilses, here to bring you the greatest reality show ev... Wait a minute."

A small, blue, levitating Pokemon scanned the sheet of paper he was reading from, a bewildered expression on his face. "Seriously?" he asked the cameraman. "Live? But it can't be. We've had previews airing on Unova's Reality Network. Hell, I saw one fifteen minutes ago with, like, the final fifteen. And you expect the audience to believe that this is _live_?"

The cameraman nodded.

"...do we really have the bar set _that _low?"

Again, the cameraman nodded.

"Huh." He turned back to the camera. "Okay, so! We have thirty-four contestants fighting for the prize of one! Million! Poke! For the next eight weeks, they'll be living in simple cabins, having to hunt for food and—"

The cameraman clear his throat.

"What, no hunting?"

The cameraman nodded.

"Oh, come on! They're Pokemon! I'm a Pokemon! You're an Emboar for Arceus's sake!"

Emboar snorted, giving him a dirty look.

With a melodramatic sigh, he said, "Fiiine, no hunting. I'll get Rotom to cook for them." He cleared his throat. "Now then, our contestants will be arriving shortly."

The sound of a roaring engine perked the host up considerably. "And here's our first contestant!"

A boat drove up to the dock, releasing the first contestant. Its white and purple fur and "I'm better than you disposition" of a cat was the tell that it was a female Meowstic.

"Heya girl," said the host. "How's it feel to be the first one here?"

"Besides you and the flaming boar?" Meowstic said, somewhat amused. "Hey... Actually, you look familiar. Aren't you a legendary Pokemon?"

He smirked. "The best of my two siblings, that's me."

"So you're Uxie."

He scowled. "Azelf."

Meowstic smirked. "The best? Second rate is more like it."

Azelf pushed her off the dock, satisfied with the smack-like splash.

The next boat arrived, releasing an orange camel-like Pokemon. Immediately, it surveyed the summer camps like area, and then groaned. "This is gonna suck, isn't it?" asked Numel.

Azelf gave a dismissive wave. "Relax, it'll be fine."

Meowstic climbed up from the water, her fur soaking wet. "In other words, yes," she scowled.

The next boat releasing a small, round, pink Pokemon. With a giggle that was most definitely feminine, she said, "Hi, I'm Igglybuff!"

"Happy to be here?" Azelf asked.

"You bet! This'll be the perfect chance to make friends!"

The host nodded. "I can honestly say that I'll be sad when your bubble is popped."

"When?" Numel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I agree," came the female voice of the fourth contestant. Its small, round, green body revealed her to be a Natu. "Azelf, I do hope that sadism isn't your shtick, otherwise this will be no different from the many other reality shows that have aired only to crash and burn."

"Of course not." Azelf seemed a little offended. "What do you take me for, Mew? As If anyone could reach the wicked dickery of that jackass."

Natu gave a slight nod of approval before joining the other three at the other end of the dock.

The fifth Pokemon to arrive was a small black avian. He waved. "Hey guys. I'm Taillow."

"Okay," said Azelf. "Anything else?"

Taillow shook his head.

"Then get over there," he said, using his psychic powers to push him over to the others.

The sixth contestant was a serpent-like Pokemon, light yellow and blue. A Dunsparce. He grinned. "Sup guys. I'm here to meet some dames and play some games, and I'm all out of dames."

Meowstic rolled her eyes. "Gee, I wonder why."

The next boat arrived, revealing a bipedal green mushroom Pokemon. "Hi there. My name's Breloom."

There was an awkward moment of silence.

"...What?"

Meowstic cleared her throat, bringing everyone's attention to her. "Alright, Piloswine in the room, I'm gonna say it: where the hell are your arms?"

Breloom wiggled his stubby little hands. "Haven't you seen a Breloom before?"

"...no. No, I haven't."

Breloom shrugged.

"_How are you shrugging_?" She asked, enunciating her words.

Again, Breloom shrugged, causing Meowstic to groan.

The next to arrive was a Skorupi that simply _exuded _spunk. She snickered upon seeing the other seven. "Ah, now that's what I like to see. A ragtag bunch of misfits, just like my old crew!"

"Misfits?" asked Taillow.

"In what world is there a group of people including a cynic and a happy-go-lucky girl willingly working together?" Numel asked, referring to himself and Igglybuff.

But before anything else could be said, there was a loud music beat.

_"Everyday I'm Shucklin'."_

Music started up as all eyes landed on the Shuckle that had stepped onto the dock. His shades completely drove home the point that this guy was _wicked cool._

No one could take their eyes off as he sauntered forward, his movements having the effect of slow motion.

And then he tripped.

The music came to a screeching halt as his shades tumbled off. He looked up to the others and chuckled. "Guess that's enough of that," he said, standing back up and storing his shades in his shell. He slithered towards the others, standing next to Dunsparce.

The serpent gave him a look of awe. "Dude. You and me. We're gonna be bros for life."

"You know it." Shuckle bumped a tentacle on Dunsparce's head to simulate a fist bump.

The ninth (re: tenth) one to arrive was a Girafarig, who seemed fairly normal. At least until she spoke. "...What? Come on, be nice... No, I'm not telling that Shuckle that he could pass for C'thuhlu, stop saying that."

Meowstic was the first to speak after an awkward silence. "Are you talking to... your tail?"

Girafarig seemed a bit shocked that Meowstic spoke, though quickly relaxed. "Oh, yeah. Sorry if she's giving trouble."

"That's... Okay?"

Girafarig smiled before walking to the others, still gaining confused stares.

"So, what, is that a tail puppet?" Skorupi asked.

Girafarig frowned. "No, she's a—"

"Butt puppet!" Skorupi interrupted, as if she had made a great breakthrough. "A Buppet!"

"That's... weird," said Helioptile.

"Wait, Helioptile?" Azelf asked. "When did _you _get here?"

"Uh, I plead the fifth?"

Azelf pushed him to the other end of the dock, accidentally bumping him into the Lucario that had just arrived into the lake. "Go get _properly _introduced."

"Okay, okay! Sheesh..." The black and yellow electric lizard noticed the camera, and started to get uneasy. "Uh, can you... not point the camera at me?"

Azelf was unamused. "Dude, you're on a reality show. You'd think you'd realize that being televized was a given."

Helioptile rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, you'd think that..." He walked over to the others just as Lucario climbed up from the lake.

He scowled. "You know, I don't really appreciate being pushed into water upon arriving."

"And I don't really appreciate you," Azelf said. "You getting a Mega Evolution and I don't, how dare you?"

"That's irrelevant."

"It's relevant enough to be an excuse for you to be the designated butt monkey, now let someone else have the spot light."

Lucario grumbled, heading over to the others.

The thirteenth to arrive was a Pokemon that, at first, seemed to have a terrifying glare. Then everyone realized that it was simply her _wings,_ and not Masquerain herself.

She bowed as much as she could. "Delighted to be here."

"This is Masquerain!" Azelf said, stating the obvious.

Skorupi groaned. "Ugh, a snooty rich girl."

Masquerain eyed the purple bug, floating over to her. "Excuse me, Skorupi, was it? I'll have you know that making a first impression be your only one to be quite costly. I, personally, find myself to be tolerant, not snooty, and I actually come from a middle class family. We're well off, but far from rich. So please, do try to see from outward appearances."

Skorupi hummed, mulling it over. "Yeah, I guess you're right. That's a good thing to improve my viewpoint, thanks!"

Masquerain nodded. "Not a problem, my friend."

As soon as Masquerain fluttered into the group, the next boat arrived, revealing a Lilligant. She gave a demure wave. "Hi, my name's—"

"Outta the way, cupcake," snorted a Magmar, who stomped on by, pushing Lilligant out of the way and into the water.

"That was Lilligant, and this is Magmar," said Azelf. "Glad to be here, Magmar?"

"Only if I win the money, Twinkle toes," he said, snorting flames.

"Hey Lucario, good news. I hate Magmar now, so you're off the butt monkey hook!"

But Lucario wasn't listening. Currently, he had his hand outstretched to Lilligant, the former still in the water. "Here, let me help you," he said.

Lilligant blushed, taking the hand that started helping her out of the water. "T-Thank you."

Lucario nodded.

Azelf gave a uim. "This is taking too long, don't you guys agree?"

"We have to be at least half way through, right?" said Breloom.

"Okay, one, no, we've still got nineteen more to introduce. Two, I was _talking_ to the readers. I mean... yeah, readers."

"Don't you mean viewers?" Numel asked. "This is a reality show, you know."

"Which totally give me free reign to slap the fourth wall silly," Azelf said, then turned to you. "Can you believe this guy?"

The cameraman grunted, bringing Azelf's attention back to reality.

"Ah, right." He took out a phone and immediately started talking into it. "Rotom, bring them by threes instead, this is taking too long. And also, do you know where I can find a restaurant that allows me to throw a party? We both know what happened to the last one." He paused before moving the phone away. "Guess I should dial something first."

But Rotom seemed to share Azelf's sentiments, for the next boat to arrive housed three Pokemon, one of them bolting out the moment the boat hit the dock.

"Someone tell that Hoppip to stay _far _away from me," snarled the Krokorok that had stepped onto the dock. "She's insane."

"...and so then, Granny DialGaGa sacrificed herself for the glory of Delibird, and I'm the reincarnation of her! So, in short, my name is Hoppip!" came Hoppip's voice as she left the boat with an uneasy looking Furret.

The Furret nodded. "That's... good to hear?"

Hoppip gasped. "Oh, we're here!"

"We're here?!" Furret gasped, noticing the others on the dock. She hastily composed herself before saying, "Uhm, hi! I'm Furret, and I hope to make lots of friends!"

Krokorok snorted. "This isn't a friendly competition, Red."

She seemed confused at the nickname before realizing what he meant. She instinctively touched the flower adorned on her right ear. "Oh, my flower! ...am I the only one who accessorised?"

"We're Pokemon, darling," Masquerain smiled warmly. "That's not a thing that we do."

"I think it looks pretty on you," Breloom said.

Furret blushed.

The next boat arrived, releasing a disappointed Corphish. "Man, these two are downers," Corphish said, pointing back to the boat. "They wouldn't even smile at my jokes!"

"I, uhm, can't smile," stuttered the Lampent that exited the boat. She bowed her head shyly before floating over to the others.

"And I just thought it was stupid," said the Furfrou that exited the boat as well.

"Aw, c'mon, have a heart," Corphish said.

"No," Furfrou said gruffly before he walked over to the others.

The next boat nearly broke everyone's eardrums, as a piercing squeal erupted from it, followed by an identical one. Once the boat docked, an Inkay and a Spheal exited the boat, chatting it up.

"You look amazing!" complimented the Spheal. "And there's no make up at all?"

"Nope!" chirped Inkay. "I don't even know what make up is!"

"Me neither!"

Most of the others stared in shock.

"Oh dear Arceus, that Inkay is the cutest thing ever," Helioptile gaped.

"They're both annoying," Furfrou grunted.

"I'll need hearing aids if I'm on the same team as them," Numel added.

"Consider yourself lucky you didn't have to _share a boat _with them," moaned the third Pokemon on the boat. She stumbled out, revealing herself to be a Venipede.

"I feel sorry for you," Azelf said to Venipede. "No, really. Now get over to the others. We've still got ten left."

She complied, and immediately after, another boat arrived. Stepping off first was a Kricketune, suspended in air using her wings. Lifting an arm, she proceeded to sound out a melody that calmed even the most irritable.

And then Hoppip landed on her.

"HI! I'm Hoppip what's your name oh you're a Kricketune good to know do you know what happened in Navel Rock I sure don't!"

Kricketune just stared wide-eyed, unable to grasp a single word. "Uhm... Hi?"

A Munchlax exited the boat, looking fairly confident until he took a step on the dock. Immediately, his entire body broke through the wood, leaving him stuck. "Aw man, not again."

"Want me to help you?" offered the Hippopotas that exited after him.

"Yeah, duh."

He steadied himself in front of the piece of wood closest to Munchlax' position. With a deep breathe, he slowly lowered his front hoof. Slowly... Slowly... Slooow—

"Jeez, come on already!" Munchlax grunted.

Ignoring the demand, Hippopotas lightly tapped the wood, causing it to flip the other end up, releasing Munchlax.

Everyone just stared.

Hippopotas shrugged sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm kinda strong. One tap is all I need. Of course, I can't really actually hit the ground like that without—"

Unfortunately, Hippopotas stomped on the dock absentmindedly to prove his point, which caused Munchlax to hurtle far into the lake.

"...something... bad... happening," Hippopotas finished.

Munchlax's voice was heard clear as day. "HELP I'VE FLOATEN AND I CAN'T GET UP. CALL LIFE ALERT."

"I'd like to help, but we're kind of on a schedule here," Azelf shrugged. "Next boat."

The next one to arrive also docked, if that wasn't obvious enough. The first of three was a small little Floette. She smiled. "Hi! I hope to have lots of fun!"

"That's not what this game's about," came the male voice of a Zoroark, who exited the boat after her. "But I guess ignorance is bliss."

The duo walked over to the others, Azelf looking confused. "There should be three on there, not two."

"You must not have seen me, then," shrugged a Mr. Mime that stood behind Azelf.

Azelf recoiled slightly. "Oh, it's you. The magician guy."

Mr. Mime tipped his top hat. "That'd be me."

Meowstic seemed suddenly interested in this new arrival. "You're a... magician?" she asked, eyes widened.

Mr. Mime gave a knowing smile. "Indeed. After all, what you see..." He reached behind her ear and pulled out a magician's wand. "...is what you get." He handed the wand to Meowstic.

She eyed it with interest and shock. "This is..."

"Is what?" asked Taillow.

Immediately she scowled, tucking the wand away in her neck fluff. "It's nothing, shut up."

"Four more to go!" Azelf said, a little bit relieved. "All four should be on the next bo... dammit."

Indeed, the boat arrived, though a little too quickly. It crashed into the previous boat, then immediately caught on fire.

"The boat, the boat, the boat is on fire!" Hoppip cackled.

"WE DON'T NEED NO WATER LET THAT SEA MO-BIEL BURN," Munchlax called out.

Apparently, that's what they did, for they just left it to burn. The remaining four scurried off from the boat before it exploded.

"This is Ampharos, Corsola, Absol, and Rampardos!" Azelf announced.

Ampharos panted. "Hey there... I'm in it... to win it!... ooh, boy..."

Corsola seemed more composed than her female friend. "Yeah... Same here."

Absol grunted. "I hope this isn't an ill omen of things to come," he said.

"Yeeeeah, I have a little more faith in this game," Rampardos said.

"Rampardos."

"Yeah?"

"You're tipping the dock," Azelf said.

Within seconds, the dock tipped upside down, sending everyone down into the water.

* * *

"...are we on? We are? Okay." Azelf cleared his throat before addressing everyone else, now on dry land. "Sorry about that, folks."

"YOU SHOULD BE YOU LITTLE—"

Furfrou kicked the fuming Magmar back into the water.

"Furfrou, just for that, you get automatic immunity," Azelf said.

Furfrou shrugged.

"Anyway, in case you haven't noticed, you are on Pokemon Drama Island! Here in the secluded Ten Isles, you will be competing with and against each other for the grand prize of one million Poke!"

Some perked up at the mention of the prize.

"At this moment, you'll be split up into two teams. When I call your name, please stand to the right of me." He motioned to the general spot next to him. "Furret... Natu... Ampharos..."

Furret seemed surprised to have been picked first, Ampharos seemed confident, and Natu just seemed stoic.

"Taillow... Breloom... Corphish..."

Taillow and Breloom smiled, while Corphish pumped his fist into the air.

"Zoroark... Floette... Mr. Mime..."

Zoroark nodded, Floette grinned, and Mr. Mime tipped his hat.

"Meowstic... Inkay... Venipede..."

"Crap," muttered Venipede. Meowstic seemed confident, while Inkay giggled.

"Skorupi... Dunsparce... Shuckle..."

Skorupi snickered while Dunsparce and Shuckle shared a fist bump.

"Munchlax and Hippopotas."

The duo grinned.

"You seventeen will henceforth be known as... The Mystic Mesprit!"

There were some cheers, some murmurs, and some looks of curiousity., but none were expanded on before Azelf got to calling the next team.

"For team two, please stand to the left of me. Krokorok... Masquerain... Corsola..."

Krokorok smirked, Corsola grinned, and Masquerain gave a small smile.

"Girafarig... Lucario... Rampardos..."

Girafarig stomped her hooves to signal approval, Lucario gave a slight nod, and Rampardos nodded his head like yeah.

"Lilligant... Lampent... Kricketune..."

Lilligant smiled, Lampent bowed, and Kricketune hummed.

"Helioptile... Furfrou... Numel..."

"Oh joy," said both Furfrou and Numel cynically. They looked at each other in shock, then gave each other nods of approval. Helioptile tried his best to avoid the camera.

"Spheal... Absol... _Magmar__, _" Azelf seethed, gritting his teeth.

Spheal clapped her fins, Absol nodded, and Magmar glared, puffing out a puff of smoke.

"Igglybuff and Hoppip," Azelf finished.

Both of them cheered for slightly different reasons.

"You guys are now... The Annoying Uxies!"

"Um. What," Numel said flatly.

"That's not alliterative," Furfrou said.

"Of course it is!" argued Azelf. "The 'uh' in 'annoying' and the 'yew' in 'Uxie' are both sounds the letter U makes!"

"Then it's not alliterative," said Numel. "It's assonance. Hell, not even that."

"Potato, pot-8-os."

"Why are we annoying and they're mystic?" Krokorok said, raising an eyebrow.

"Magmar," he said bluntly. Before Magmar could give any threats, Azelf clasped his hands together. "Okay! Onto the tour!"

He led he thirty-four contestants to a campfire pit. "This here is the place most of you will come to hate."

"What if we hate it already?" Numel said.

"Then you're a downer and I can tell that you'll somehow be a fan favorite when you do nothing productive. But back to this! Every few days, each team will participate in a challenge. The winning team receives immunity, meaning they get to stay here for another few days. The losing team, however, must report here the following night, where you will vote off the person of your choosing. It could be because they cost your team the challenge. Maybe because they're planning to off you, so you turn the tables. Or maybe it's simply because they are unlikable. The point is, you have only your allies and your enemies, and sometimes, your allies can _become _your enemies."

This caused a few worried glances between the two teams.

Azelf continued, motioning towards an outhouse stationed close to the campfire pit. "That there is the confession cam. Use it to express your inner most secrets and fears. It's also where you'll vote who to eliminate."

"What happens if you're eliminated?" asked Floette.

"Uh, just that?"

"No, I mean, where do they go?"

"Ah. The loser must head over to the Dock of Shame, which... isn't repaired yet, so I hope you like a swim! Board the Boat of Losers, and you can never come back. EV—ER. Any questions?"

Zoroark raised his hand. "Are the confessionals private?"

"Should be," Azelf shrugged.

Zoroark's eyes narrowed, but he ultimately stayed silent.

"Alright then," Azelf said, and he led everyone to the mess hall. There, it was exactly as the name implied. Most of the tables and the walls looked to have been cleaned once in its olden life. Stationed at the end was presumably the cook, who fit the profile of a Rotom.

"Hey, is that Rotom?" Taillow asked.

"Duh," Azelf said, floating over to Rotom. "Heya buddy, say something for our audience at home."

"If you expect me to cook for thirty-four teens, you're out of your mind, Azelf," Rotom grunted.

"That was Rotom!" Azelf said gleefully.

"Duh," Magmar sneered, resulting in a glare from the blue legendary.

"Anywaaay, every morning and afternoon, you'll report here for breakfast or dinner. Our kind cook Rotom has been so kind as to agree to cook for you all."

"Not _thirty-four_, Azelf," Rotom groaned. "I was expecting somewhere around twenty-five."

Azelf gave him a pat on the back. "Don't worry buddy; the numbers will dwindle soon enough."

Some seemed uneasy at that.

"Alright then," Azelf said. "I'll show you to your cabins, and then you can come back here for breakfast, or you can just dick around the island."

He led the teams to two wooden cabins, looking to be on the verge of collapse. "Right cabin is Mesprit's, left is Uxie's. Girls get the right side, boys the left. Any questions?"

Besides a few murmurs amongst each other, nothing was said.

"Alright then. I'll see you later." With a snap of his fingers, he teleported away, allowing everyone to congregate to their rooms.

* * *

_Mesprit's/Girls_

Most of the female Mesprits decided on simply staying in their rooms. As they situated themselves to the bunk beds, Furret decided to strike up a conversation.

"So, uhm, how are you guys?" she asked sheepishly. Small talk wasn't really once of Furret's fortes.

"I had my ears crying blood, it was great!" Venipede snarled, irritation and sarcasm mixing together.

"Aw, what's wrong, you mad at little old' Inkay?" Skorupi said, fluttering her suddenly visible eyelashes. She lied casually on the bunk atop of Venipede's.

"And Spheal, yes," Venipede scowled.

"Hey, come on now," Ampharos said, finished with stuffing her suitcases under the bed that was under Furret's. She picked up Inkay. "This ain't a face you can stay mad at."

She lightly squeezed Inkay, causing her to look like a plush doll. The squid gave a giggle, flapping her little fins.

"My ears beg to differ."

"You don't have any."

"That doesn't mean she's incapable of hearing noises," Natu said, poking her head up from the bunk above Inkay's, "regardless if she hasn't any visible ones."

Ampharos shrugged. "Eh, I guess so. Still, if it were me, I don't think I could get mad at Inkay ever."

"Well, Venipede isn't you."

"True."

From one of the empty bunks, Meowstic said, "Hey, could you keep it down? Some of us are _trying to sleep."_

"At ten AM?" Furret asked.

"You try waking up at three in the morning just to make it to the boat on time."

"Can't you just teleport?" Skorupi asked.

Meowstic didn't answer. She just pulled the covers over her head.

%%%

**Meowstic: This** **_sucks._ Don't they know we have a challenge soon? I swear, if they get voted off because they can't do anything, they'll only have themselves to blame.**

**%%%**

* * *

_Mesprits/Boys_

"But seriously dude. There's _gotta _be a party ball in here."

"Yeah, totally," Shuckle nodded at Dunsparce's comment.

"Thirded!" Munchlax cheered.

"Fourthed! Hippopotas agreed.

Taillow wasn't sure how to feel about this. "I'm not sure how to feel about this."

"I do," Corphish said, raising a claw. "Fifthed! You in, Taillow?"

"...Sixthed?"

"WHOO!" the other five cheered.

"Majority rules!" Munchlax said. "Six to three, aw yeah!"

"More like six to none," Corphish said. "The other three are in the mess hall."

"I think I'll go in there then," Taillow said.

"Aw, you cop out!" Corphish teased. "But I'll come with."

Taillow and Corphish walked out, leaving the other four to their discussion.

* * *

_Uxies/Girls_

"...and _that _was the song that tamed Mr. Wiggles," Kricketune concluded.

"My tail says it's nice!" Girafarig said.

Lament gave a bow. "I enjoyed it."

Hoppip was writing down the lyrics. "Okay, so when you say 'Kindness is in the air', do you really mean, 'I want to feast on a Tropius's innards'?"

"What does 'innards' mean?" Spheal asked innocently.

"You don't need to know, darling," Masquerain said. "Now would you like to pick out some beds now, you all?"

"Well, I already have," Corsola said, sitting on the bed atop of Masquerain.

Masquerain nodded. "Then it seems you're the only one who did."

"I don't know. I think I saw Igglybuff set up her things."

"Yup!" Igglybuff said from her bed. She hopped down and joined the others.

"And Lilligant?" Masquerain continued.

"She's over at the mess hall, I think."

Masquerain gave a hum. "I suppose I'll go check on her, then."

"You really shouldn't," Corsola said. "She's her own Pokemon; you can't just make sure everyone's in sync like that. Kills some sort of vibe, I think."

With a him, Masquerain asked, "Then what do you suppose I do?"

"Sleep. Get ready for the challenge." With that, Corsola threw her blanket over herself, trying to nap.

Mulling it over, Masquerain ultimately decided to follow her words, taking a spot underneath her bed.

* * *

_Uxies/Boys_

The boys side, meanwhile, wasn't nearly as hectic. Most of them had decided on their beds and were now currently relaxing.

Krokorok, however, was busy using his nail to scratch the ceiling.

From below his bed, Rampardos poked his head up. "What's going on there?"

"I'm carving a skull," he said simply.

"Isn't that a thing you should, y'know, not do?"

Krokorok scoffed. "What are you, a cop?"

"N–" Rampardos stopped, checking over himself quickly before saying, "Nope, not a cop."

Rolling his eyes, Krokorok said, "Then mind your own business, capiche?"

"Hey!" Magmar called out. "You losers gonna shut your yaps or do I gotta do it myself?"

Krokorok just turned to Rampardos. "Hey, how much you wanna bet I can twist Magmar in a knot in twelve seconds."

"Oh, I don't bet. Last year, I kind of lost a good chunk of money from a Pyroar in a wizard's cloak that played a card trick on me."

The Ground type just gave Rampardos a look that said '_Dude, focus.'_.

"Oh. Riiiight," he said, giving a conspiratory wink.

From above Magmar's bed, Absol calmly told the Fire type, "You might want to start running."

"Oh yeah? What's gonna–" He stopped suddenly, seeing Krokorok suddenly in front of him, knuckles cracking. "...make... me."

"I'm a nice guy; I'll give ya ten seconds," Krokorok said.

With a sheepish chuckle, Magmar started towards the door. "You know, I just realized I left the, uh, microwave oven toaster coffee maker... Y'know' I'm just gonna go now." He bolted out of the room.

With a smirk and a snort, Krokorok said, "That's more like it."

"Agreed," Furfrou said from his top bunk. "Magmar's presence just irritates me."

"What _doesn't_?" Numel asked from the bunk below Furfrou's.

"Fair enough."

* * *

Those that weren't in their cabins were sitting within the mess hall. No one knew each other well enough to sit in groups greater than three, and the only group that did consisted of Zoroark, Floette, and Mr. Mime.

"So, this food looks... Nice?" Floette said in an effort to make conversation.

"It's burnt sausage. The only Pokemon that would find this nice would be hardcore carnivores," Zoroark said.

She giggled. "Hardcore carnivore; nice rhyme!"

"...yeah?"

She gave a sly yet innocent grin. "You must be a poet that didn't even know it!"

"Sure, let's go with that," he shrugged.

**%%%**

**Zoroark: Let's make no pretenses for this season. I'm what you call a power player; I'm going to play the game, and I'll do a damn good job at it, guaranteed. _(Leans back a little) _Step one; know thy enemy.**

**%%%**

"So, what's your story?" Zoroark asked, pointing his spoon at Mr. Mime's direction. "A magician doesn't seem that practical here."

Mr. Mime shrugged. "I like being in competitions. You'll never know what happens, just like with magic."

"So there's the connection," Zoroark murmured to himself, out of Mr. Mime's earshot.

"Can you do a magic trick now?" Floette asked, eyes gleaming. Suddenly, they began to gleam even brighter, with a dazzling light flashing between the trio.

Mr. Mime seemed in phase, but Zoroark hissed. "Gah! What the _hell_ was that?!"

She shrank back, refusing to meet Zoroark's eyes. "Sometimes that happens... I get too excited, and I use some of my moves. Mostly Dazzling Gleam."

"A Fairy type move," Mr. Mime noted.

"Obviously," Zoroark groaned, rubbing his eyes.

"Sorry," she apologized.

**%%%**

**Zoroark: _(Gargles eyes with eye drops)_**

**_%%%_**

With those three resuming their breakfast, others like Breloom were far enough away to not even notice the mini spectacle. In fact, he was content in pretending to eat his burnt food. That is, until Corphish and Taillow barged in, the former slinging his arm around Breloom.

"Hey hey, what's up man?" Corphish said. "You missed one heck of a debate."

"Apparently, everybody loves party balls," Taillow said. Seeing Breloom's confused expression, he added, "Yeah, I thought the same thing."

"Aw, come on, party balls are amazing! Almost as great as disco balls!"

"Aren't those the ones you see—"

"At discos, duh," Corphish said, interrupting Breloom. "Dude, get cultured."

"And get your feet checked," said a voice from under the table. "Seriously, you're poking my tail."

Breloom glanced under the table. "Oh, sorry Helioptile." He adjusted his feet accordingly.

"Thanks."

Corphish ducked under the table. "Dude! Why are you under there?"

Helioptile poked his head out. "I'm avoiding the cameras."

"But you're on a reality show," Taillow pointed out.

"Yeah... Not one of my brightest ideas."

At another table, Lucario sat alone, simply eating his breakfast. That is, until someone tapped his shoulder. He glanced over, seeing Lilligant. "Hello."

"Hi," she said. "I just wanted to thank you for earlier."

"Pulling you out of the lake?"

Lilligant nodded. "Yes. That. Thank you."

Lucario gave a slight nod, taking a bite out of his food. "You're welcome."

Lilligant was prepared to speak more until the intercom buzzed. _"Time to begin, campers! Please file into the mess hall! Absences will be dealt with by having you fired. Out of a cannon. Let's go!"_

As soon as it fizzled to a stop, Lilligant silently groaned.

**%%%**

**Lilligant: I didn't really get the chance to thank Lucario more than I already did, and that's just going to bother me for the rest of the day.**

**%%%**

Everyone gradually started walking in, and soon, all thirty-four players were squished into the mess hall.

With a grandiose blue cloud of smoke, Azelf appeared in front of everyone. Of course, most of them closest to Azelf started coughing.

"Could you–gack!–not appear like that anymore?" Absol coughed. "I'm an asthmatic."

"Sucks to be you!" Azelf said, swishing the smoke away from himself. "But now it's time for your first challenge! Meet me up that super huge cliff, pronto!" With that, he teleported away, leaving behind another cloud of blue smoke.

"I wonder what the first challenge's gonna be?" Furret asked, coughing afterwards.

Krokorok scoffed then coughed. "It's our first challenge. Odds are, it's better than being in here."

No sooner had he said that, the smoke was just enough to turn on the sprinklers, drenching everyone in not-so-sprinkly water.

One thing was clear.

This was gonna suck.

* * *

**A/N: So it begins! I gotta say, I have high hopes for this story, and I'm not gonna let it die like my other fics. ...actually, none of my TD docs are really dead. They're just updated really sporadically. This will probably have some sort of priority higher than the others, but I doubt it. But this _will_ be finished, come hell or high water.**

**Now, if you're like me and hate introducing every character for one chapter, sorry, but it had to be done. Here's a list of all the characters and their stereotypes.**

**...**

**Absol: The Seer (aka, male Dawn)**

**Ampharos: The Action Girl Heroine**

**Breloom: The Responsible Guy (aka, Mike without MPD being the focus for his drama)**

**Corphish: The Class Clown**

**Corsola: The Go-With-The-Flow Girl (aka, sort of Bridgette, but not entirely)**

**Dunsparce: The Party Dude**

**Floette: The Accident Prone**

**Furfrou: The Grouch**

**Furret: The Nice Girl (aka, Zoey in all her holy glory)**

**Girafarig: The Buppet Master (aka, crazy like Trent, but for a different reason)**

**Helioptile: The Average Joe**

**Hippopotas: The Strong Guy **

**Hoppip: The Crazy Chick (aka, Izzy)**

**Igglybuff: The Friend To All **

**Inkay: The Cutie Patootie**

**Kricketune: The Music Maker (aka, Ella)**

**Krokorok: The Delinquent (aka, Duncan, only without the attention whoring or Karma Houdini tendencies)**

**Lament: The Polite Lady**

**Lilligant: The Pushover (more in a literal sense)**

**Lucario: The Leader**

**Magmar: The Wannabe Punk**

**Masquerain: The Regal and Refined Lady**

**Meowstic: The Power Player(aka, World Tour-esque Heather; aka the most interesting character I'll ever write)**

**Mr. Mime: The Magician**

**Munchlax: The Lovable Lug (aka, kind of Owen, though not entirely)**

**Natu: The Stoic Chick**

**Numel: The High IQ (aka, Noah)**

**Rampardos: The Right-Hand Man (aka, sort of plays the Tyler role, but is really a homage to Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove)**

**Shuckle: The Party Dude's Best Bro**

**Skorupi: The Spunky Chick (aka, sort of Junko from Dangan Ronpa)**

**Spheal: The Ball Of Fun**

**Taillow: The Middle Man**

**Venipede: The Snark Knight (aka, Megara from Hercules)**

**Zoroark: The Devious Player**

**...**

**Azelf: The Host With The Most**

**Room: That One Guy Who Seems To Always Be With The Host For Some Inexplicable Reason**

**...**

**NEXT TIME: "Not-So-Happy Campers Part 2": To start things off, he teams are going to have to dive off of a thousand foot cliff. You know, because that's totally original. In the end, one team will have to say good bye to another.**

**...**

**Special thanks to Dark Amphithere, who was more than supportive about this. Seriously dude, you rock!**


	2. Not-So-Happy Campers Part 2

**Hello, hello, hello! Thanks for continuing to the next chapter. It means you have some sort of interest in it! Thanks a bunch!**

**Now then, last time, we met our thirty-four players, separating them into the teams Mystic Mesprit (Furret, Natu, Ampharos, Taillow, Breloom, Corphish, Floette, Zoroark, Mr. Mime, Inkay, Meowstic, Venipede, Skorupi, Dunsparce, Shuckle, Munchlax, and Hippopotas) and Annoying Uxie (Krokorok, Masquerain, Corsola, Lilligant, Lucario, Kricketune, Lampent, Igglybuff, Hoppip, Helioptile, Furfrou, Numel, Spheal, Girafarig, Rampardos, Magmar, and Absol). And now, we'll finally start the first challenge, a classic I'm sure you're all familiar with and may even loathe. Let's go!**

* * *

"Glad to see you're all in tip-top shape!" Azelf chirped.

Needless to say, all thirty-four of them were still soaking wet, not to mention tired from the thousand mile hike up to the top of the cliff.

Azelf, however, was comically oblivious to this. "Aw, what's wrong? You haven't even gotten through the challenge yet and you're already mad!"

Krokorok was the only one who seemed angry enough to do something about it. He stomped over and grasped Azelf around the neck as tight as he could so that he wouldn't actually suffocate him, despite eighty percent of him wanting to do so. "If you think I'm gonna sit here and let you get away with this, you've got another thing coming."

The host gasped. "Violence against the host! Against the rules! Kywaaaah, help me silver spears!"

There was a moment of stilled silence when nothing happened.

Azelf cursed. "DAMMIT MONOBEAR YOU SAID I COULD USE IT THIS ONE TIME."

Even Krokorok was too confused by this. Slowly, he set the sprite down, letting Azelf float there.

"Okay, look, sorry," Azelf said. "But we really have to get to this challenge now."

Krokorok composed himself, giving a quick sneer before heading back to the others.

Wiping the dirt from his body, Azelf began to announce the challenge. "Okay, it's really simple. See down there?" He pointed down the cliff, where there was water as far as the eye could see. Within it was a small circle of rope and buoys, almost like a safe zone. "That's where you need to dive. The safe zone is the only safe part of it. Dive and get your team a point. The team with the most points wins this part. Any questions?"

Corsola peered down. "Is it fresh?"

"What?"

"Is the water fresh?" She clarified.

"Oh, definitely! We even hired some fresh water Sharpedo to maul you if you don't make it to the safe zone!"

"As long as it's fresh," Corsola shrugged, walking back to her team.

"So, that's all we have to do?" Zoroark asked. "Dive and hope for the best?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Azelf said. "And you don't have to land in the safe zone to get a point. You just need to dive."

"So we could through our entire team down and win?" Magmar asked, almost hungrily.

"Uh... Yeah. Dude, you have issues."

**%%%**

**Zoroark: What an idiot. Obviously, if you hurl everyone down, you'll win the challenge, but then you'll be enemy number one. Then it's bye-bye come the next challenge.**

**%%%**

Azelf clasped his hands together. "Any more questions, or can we finally get through this bout of exposition?"

No one raised their hands or appendages.

With a giddy grin, he said, "Then let's start! Mesprits, you're up first!"

Everyone immediately decided on Corphish to be the first jumper.

"What? Why me?"

"You're a water type," Venipede said flatly.

"Oh yeah." Without a moment's hesitation, he jumped off of the cliff, his radical cheer echoing the entire time until a large splash was heard.

As everyone peered over, Corphish's head bobbed up from the safe zone. "Come on in guys, the water's great!"

"Good enough for me," Taillow shrugged. Flapping his wings, he soared down into the water, hitting the safe zone right in the middle.

His head broke free from the water. "How'd I do?"

"Good," Corphish said. "But maybe you can wait until I get out of the water first, eh?"

As the duo swam to shore, a member of the Annoying Uxie piped up. "That's not fair!" Magmar snorted. "He _flew _down!"

"All he needed to do was dive," Furfrou growled. "And he did that. Now shut up."

"Dive, you say?" Natu asked. Concentrating for a moment, she was soon enveloped in a dark pink aura, levitating slightly. "Mr. Mime, Inkay, Meowstic. We can just go down like this."

Mr. Mime and Inkay seemed generally pleased, though Meowstic was visibly upset. "Uh, wouldn't that be too easy?"

"I don't see why it can't be," Zoroark added, causing Meowstic to glare at him.

"W-Well, if you're so sure, why don't _you _go down next?"

Zoroark shrugged, taking a casual step off of the cliff. He landed in the safe zone and walked off, hardly affected by any of this.

"Uh, I'm no physics expert, but shouldn't hitting the water that far away hurt?" asked Breloom.

"It'll be fine," Furret said with a warm smile. "Corphish and Taillow and Zoroark are okay."

"...still. Could someone else go?"

"Certainly," Natu said, both flying and levitating down the cliff. Mr. Mime followed suit, both of them landing in the safe zone.

Skorupi peered down and smiled. "This'll be fun!"

"Seriously?" Venipede asked. "Do you really mean that or are you just being sarcastic?"

Only one way to find out!" said Skorupi, grabbing Venipede and jumping off the cliff with her.

**%%%**

**Venipede: _(Is sopping wet, a nasty glare on her face)_**

**%%%**

**Munchlax:** **_(Walks in, then stops)_ Uh, are confession cams supposed to have only two walls?**

**%%%**

Dunsparce nudged Shuckle. "You in?"

Shuckle shook his head. "Rock type. Can't."

"Oh, do we have our first chicken on board?" Azelf asked.

"Guess so." He turned to Dunsparce. "Can't do it man. Go on without me."

"No way dude," Dunsparce said. "Bros gotta stick together."

They shared a "fist bump" just as Azelf strapped on Torchic hats to their heads. "Gentlemen, you may take the long hike down the mountain." And so they did.

**%%%**

**Ampharos: Man, that's amazing. They've become so close these pass few hours. Even if we lose this, no way am I voting those two off yet. They've got, like, too good a bond.**

**%%%**

**Meowstic: _(Beats her head on the wall in frustration)_**

**%%%**

"So that's seven jumpers and two chickens. We've still got Ampharos, Meowstic, Inkay, Furret, Breloom, Floette, Munchlax and Hippopotas."

"Uh-uh, no way am I jumping down," Meowstic said, backing up.

"And why not?" Ampharos said, just daring her to say the wrong answer.

"Because... uhm..." She paused, racking her brain for an answer. "...I'll get my fur wet."

"Ex- _cuse_ me?" Ampharos glared.

Meowstic kept her stance, not even recoiling from the Electric type's glare. "You heard me."

"Oh, _you're jumpin'._"

"Make me!" Meowstic challenged.

And so Ampharos did. She grabbed Meowstic and hurled her straight down the cliff, the Psychic type's screams echoing for eons until they were interrupted by a smack-like splash.

Meowstic bobbed her head out of the water, glaring daggars at Ampharos. Although, there was just a hint of a smirk that was too far away for any of the others to notice.

**%%%**

**Meowstic: (_Sighs in relief). _That was too close of a bullet I dodged. I gotta get better at hiding this... _(Pauses, thinking of a suitable term)_ Quirk, I guess.**

**%%%**

"That was... kind of mean," Furret said to Ampharos. "Couldn't you have just talked it out with her?"

"Sorry girl, but I'm not letting her throw this challenge because of her fur," Ampharos shrugged. "And hey, I threw her in the safe zone, didn't I?"

"Which must've hurt since it's a thousand feet high," Breloom added. "So, so high..."

"Dude, we're Pokemon," Ampharos said. "We can survive anything. Like this!" With that, she jumped off the cliff, cheering all the way.

"Nine jumpers and two chickens!" Azelf cheerfully announced. "Who's going next?"

"I will!" Floette said. Grabbing her feather, she dove off the cliff and fell.

And fell.

And fell.

And fell.

And—

"Can't you hurry up?" Azelf groaned. "You're not even a foot from the ground!'

Floette shrugged, still floating down. "I can't help that I'm lighter than a feather!"

With another groan, Azelf floated down and snatched the Fairy type up. "Okay, you dove, you get the point, now go."

Floette and her team seemed pleased while the other team seemed visibly upset.

"Yeah, you would complain," Azelf grunted to the Uxies. He turned to the Mesprits. "Ten jumpers and three chickens, so who's—"

"Three?" Hippopotas asked. "Only Shuckle and Dunsparce didn't jump."

"Yeah, I'm kind of assuming you're not jumping either, since you're a Ground type and all."

Hippopotas frowned. "But I'm planning on jumping."

"Then do it."

"Okay, I will."

"Now."

"Fine!" he spluttered, taking a step off of the cliff and started falling. Hitting the water, while unpleasant, did give his team the point.

Munchlax grinned. "If he's going, then I am too! _COWABUNGA!" _Fueled by his determination, he flung himself off, realizing too late that this was a bad idea. The entire was down, his determined cheer was replaced by screams of terror.

"Alright! Next is—" It was then that Munchlax landed, hitting the water so hard that the splash drenched everyone on the cliff, include Azelf, who was interrupted by the splash. "... you three."

Breloom started physically shaking, which brought on Furret's worry. "Uhm, Breloom?"

His teeth clattering, he stuttered, "H-Huh?!"

"We're going to have to jump soon."

He gulped, peering down the cliff, Seeing just how high he really was finally drove him to run away, screaming like a little girl.

"Three chickens!" Azelf giddily said.

**%%%**

**Breloom: Okay, so _maybe_ I freaked out there. Wouldn't you? I mean, it's so high up and so, so high... so..._ (Goes into fetal position)_**

**_%%%_**

Furret sighed, stepping off the cliff and landing in the safe zone.

Inkay, being the last one to jump, bounced her way off the cliff. Unfortunately, she bounced too far, and she landed well outside of the safe zone.

Cries of "Inkay!" and "Look out!" were heard as the dorsal fin of a Sharpedo made its was to the unsuspecting Inkay. It came closer... and closer... and closer still, until...

Just as the Sharpedo broke free from the water and bared its many fangs, Inkay turned around, not at all scared of the ferocious beast. Instead, she put on the most adorable face ever seen, one so amazing that putting it into words just wouldn't adequately describe it. The Sharpedo just stared in awe until it gave Inkay a big hug, swimming her to shore.

"...Okay. So, only three on the Mesprits didn't jump," Azelf said. "Can the Uxies do any better?"

"Well, we _do _have two Water types," Masquerain said. "I'd say we have preferable odds."

"Yeah, that's what they all think. Who's first?"

"If no one else wants to, then I'll go first," Corsola offered. When no one spoke against her, she took it as a cue to dive. She landed safely in the safe zone.

Immediately, everyone's eyes turned to Spheal, who took it in stride. "I can do it guys!" She rolled herself off the cliff, landing safely.

With all the Water types exhausted, the Uxies were having trouble deciding just who to send out next. Well, most of them. Furfrou saw the opportunity, and he kicked Magmar off the cliff.

Some were appalled. "Furfrou!" gasped Lampent.

"He irks me," he shrugged.

"You can't get double immunity out of this, you know," Azelf said.

"Who said anything about immunity?"

"Whatever. But that doesn't count as jumping."

Furfrou scowled, a sentiment that was shared by a few others on his team. "_What."_

"I said you had to jump off, not have someone else kick you off." He gave an apologetic shrug. "Sorry dude, that counts as a chicken."

"Then Meowstic didn't jump either," Numel added. "Ampharos threw her off."

Azelf gave an annoyed sigh. "Fine, Mesprits have four chickens. Happy?"

"No," Furfrou scowled again.

"Perhaps we should calm down," Kricketune said, fluttering over. "We won't be able to enjoy this if we don't calm down! For example, I am calm, so I know this will be fun!" To make a point, Kricketune fluttered off of the cliff, landing in the safe zone with ease.

"Three jumpers, one chicken," Azelf declared. "I'd suggest you go faster, We don't want this to be a three parter."

And so faster they went. Those like Lilligant, Lucario, and Igglybuff jumped down with little complaint. Masquerain and Hoppip simply flew down while Girafarig and Absol fell with their four legs flailing around.

It was Krokorok's turn next. Much to Azelf's surprise, the Ground type actually jumped, and showed no hesitance in the slightest. "Didn't expect that. Okay, so we've got Lampent, Rampardos, Numel, Furfrou, and Helioptile left."

Helioptile peered down the cliff. "Uh, will I be filmed jumping."

"Duh."

"Ah. Well then no, I'm not jumping."

"Wait, what?"

Helioptile shrugged. "Sorry." He took a Torchic hat and walked down the cliff.

Azelf was amazed. "I... I'm amazed."

"Might as well be a good time to say I'm not jumping either," Numel said.

"Dude!" Azelf spluttered. "Your team is winning! You can't just quit now!"

"If we're winning, then it shouldn't matter," Numel said, walking off.

Azelf groaned. "Ugh, whatever. You three, are you jumping?"

Lampent and Rampardos just stared at the ground. Furfrou snarled. "Looks like I'm the only one jumping." With that, he leaped off the cliff.

**%%%**

**Furfrou: We're gonna lose anyway. And even though I have immunity now, I'm not gonna have it later. Might as well do the challenges so no one holds it against me.**

**%%%**

Azelf just glared at the duo. "Guys, you have only three chickens. All you need to do is _jump._"

Lampent twiddled her appendages. "I-I'm afraid of water."

"And I kind of don't want to sink," Rampardos said.

"Just... Just get off my cliff," he sighed. Once they were all off, Azelf floated to shore, where everyone was gathered. Even Lampent and Rampardos, who seemed to get there quicker than him.

"So, who won?" Zoroark asked.

"Because of _four freaking' copouts, _you Mesprits win this part of the challenge."

The Mesprits needed while the Uxies groaned.

"This part?" Lucario asked, eyebrow raised.

"Very perceptive!" Azelf said. "Yes, this part. If you'll look behind you, you'll see two crates, one big, one small."

Everyone turned to indeed see two crates.

"How'd those get here?" Taillow asked.

"Don't know, don't care. Now then, I'll need each of you to elect one of your chickens."

"For what?" Taillow asked.

"Dude, stop asking questions. But seriously though, pick a chicken, and they'll have to haul that crate to camp by any means necessary. Mesprits, for winning, you get the small crate. Uxies get the large one. Ready? Go!" With that, Azelf disappeared in yet another cloud of smoke.

Immediately, all eyes from the Uxies turned to Rampardos, who seemed kind of lost. "Uh... What's with all the eyes?"

Krokorok put a firm hand on Rampardos's shoulder. "Alright dude, it's times like these where we new your muscles. Can you do it?"

Rampardos mulled it over. "Well, I _was _on the wrestling team in high school..."

"You went to high school?" asked Numel, eyebrows raised. "We're Pokemon. We don't go to school."

Krokorok scoffed. "No one cares, egghead. Or would _you _rather push this crate?"

With a huff, Numel said, "Sports aren't my forte."

"So I'm guessing hard work fits into that?"

"Gee, of course it does. Wow, how smart you must be." The sarcasm was almost venomous.

"Listen here, you little—"

"Enough."

The word alone wouldn't have been enough to stop such a quarrel, but the calm yet firm tone similar to a police sheriff brought everyone's attention to Lucario. Even with this sudden change in attention, his bold stance did not falter, nor did his tone waiver. "This fight is irrelevant. If we really want to win this challenge, we must use our strongest member." He glanced over to Rampardos. "And even then, only if he's willing."

"So, what you're saying is, I gotta push the crate?" Rampardos asked.

"Yes," Lucario said. "Are you up to it?"

Rampardos chuckled, as if the thought otherwise simply amused him. "I once carried a hotel room double my size!"

"A hotel room..." Numel started to say, though Lucario's stare kept the camel silent.

"I can do this guys, don't you worry," Rampardos said.

Lucario turned to the others. "Any objections?"

All were silent.

"Very well. Rampardos, our victory is in your hands."

* * *

The Mesprits, however, had a relatively harder time deciding their chicken.

Furret started to clear their options up. "So, it's down to Dunsparce, Shuckle, Meowstic, or..." Her eyes rested over to Breloom, who was still in fetal position. "Uhm. Yeah."

"Obviously, sending out Breloom is a death sentence," Zoroark said, prompting a "Hey!" from Furret. "And Dunsparce and Shuckle don't seem really strong... or having enough incentive to do this."

The party bros shrugged.

As Zoroark and everyone else slowly moved their eyes to Meowstic, she had already been ready to protest. "No way, uh-uh. I don't have any physical strength, especially not as much as those two." She pointed a thumb to Dunsparce and Shuckle.

"She _does_ have a point," Ampharos muttered, not so pleased to actually admit that.

"Hey, hang on," said Floette. "Can't you just use your psychic powers?"

"That's not a bad idea!" Corphish said. "Probably the easiest way, ain't it?"

Meowstic's eyes widened. "No way, I'm not doing it!"

"Oh _yes you are,_" snarled Venipede. "I didn't get pulled off a freaking' cliff for _nothing._"

"Well, _I _ didn't get _hurled _off a cliff just so I can do _this. _Find yourself some other guinea pig, because I'm not doing it!"

"Meowstic..." Natu said, skipping forward. "We don't have any other option. We need _you _and you alone."

Meowstic stammered before saying, "B-But I ca–won't! I won't!"

Natu just stared, her beady black eyes studying every trace of intent in Meowstic's. Finally, she said, "Fine. There's obviously no reasoning." The avian turned to the rest of the team. "We'll put it to a vote. Whoever wants Meowstic to do this, raise your appendage."

Almost every hand/wing/whatever went up, the only ones not were Meowstic's (for obvious reasons), Breloom's (seeing as he was still in fetal position), and Natu's (given that she felt the need to abstain).

Meowstic, however, fumed. "Fine! If you want me to do it so badly, fine! But don't blame me if it has, like, dumbbells too heavy even for me!"

* * *

"What's in these? Dumbbells?"

"Yes," Azelf said simply to answer Rampardos's question. Then he turned to you. "See how original this part is? Aren't I so smart for making it up?"

"Yeah, real smart to be talking to thin air," Numel said, rolling his eyes. Then, suddenly, his mouth closed up tight. "MMPH!"

"No more screentime for you," Azelf snickered, then turned to Rampardos and Meowstic, the two of them in front of their respective boxes, eight at the starting line. "Alright. No ifs, ands, or buts about it."

"Heh heh, butts," Munchlax said, almost dreamily so.

"Uh, yeah. Whoever loses this loses it for their whole team. So, you know, don't screw up. Are we ready?"

Rampardos seemed ready, the previous parts of Azelf's speech not worrying him in the slightest. Meowstic, however, was trembling, though with the straightest of faces she had, it was hard to tell.

"Then let's go!" With a psychic blast up in the air that acted as a flare, the duo began.

Rampardos put all his effort into his push, though that only managed to make the box inch its way forward. His entire team started shouting out either words of encouragement or advice.

"You can do it!" shouted Igglybuff.

"Conserve your energy," said Lucario in that same firm tone.

"Crack some skulls!" yelled Krokorok, which brought the entirety of the cheering to a halt. "Oh, wrong challenge. Gotcha."

With Meowstic, there was equal encouragement, though a noticable lack of effort, at least telepathically. Meowstic pushed feebly at the box, maxing even less effort than Rampardos. She tried everything, from batting at it to kicking it to even trying 'Open Sesame'. Everything except for telekinesis, which everyone was quick to realize.

"Come on!" Ampharos said. "Use Psychic and we win!"

By now, Meowstic was visibly shuddering, all her other options tried and failed. She glanced over to Rampardos, who was halfway across the shore by now, which only amplified her panic.

The cheers had slowly dissolved into anxious shouts, none of them wanting to lose over something like this. "Come on!" "Please, just use Psychic!" "Actually do something!"

Her straight face finally cracked and accompanied her tremoring body with a pained and panicked expression. Her eyes darted from her team to Rampardos and to her box, her breathing becoming even more ragged as her hyperventilating finally reached its max, until...

She slumped to her knees, her head and ears bowed, finally giving up.

The entirety of the Mesprits were too shocked (or in some cases, furious) for words, which was infectious enough to silence the Uxies as well.

Azelf broke the silence with a megaphone. "AND THE UXIES WIN IT!"

Rampardos stood next to his box, tired and panting, for he had finally crossed the finish line.

Immediately, the Uxies erupted into a cheer, while the Mesprits...

Well, the Mesprits simply glared at the cat, who still stayed on the ground, her shoulders heaving ever so slightly.

"Mesprits, I'll see you at elimination tonight," Azelf said, disappearing in yet another puff of smoke.

This elimination, like all that were yet to come, would not be a good one.

No, not by a long shot.

* * *

With the torches lit, it hardly seemed like nighttime when all seventeen members crowded inside the area. But the flickering flames brought forth an elevated sense of tension and anxiety.

Azelf stood, levitating a tray of sixteen marshmallows. Rotom stood next to him... doing nothing, oddly. Maybe Azelf just wanted him that because he needed Rotom for every episode.

"Campers," Azelf said, "you're gathered here today because, in one way or another, you done bonked it."

Everyone looked at him oddly as Rotom whispered into Azelf's ear. With a melodramatic sigh, Azelf said, "Fffine. You guys screwed up majorly. But, one of you screwed up the most, and that Pokemon will not get a marshmallow, which is a symbol of safety for you. And, since this is our first elimination ceremony, I felt that it was fitting to invite the other team, so they see just how this works!"

Once Azelf finished, the seventeen members of the Uxies filed in, standing off to the side.

"What? Why?" Taillow asked.

"I... just said why. Dude, you need to listen." Azelf cleared his throat and continued. "So, you've all cast your votes, which you won't be seeing because we _totally _have enough confessionals this episodes, yup, totally. So, those of you with no votes is.. actually, everyone but Breloom and Meowstic."

"What? Why me?" both of them asked at the same time.

"Let's find out! Marshmallows go to Ampharos, Corphish, Dunsparce, Floette, Furret, Hippopotas, Inkay, Mr. Mime, Munchlax, Natu, Shuckle, Skorupi, Taillow, Venipede, and Zoroark." He flicked marshmallows at the fifteen mentioned Pokemon.

Breloom and Meowstic sat there, both of them equally nervous.

"Breloom and Meowstic," said Azelf. "Each of you have a reason for being in this spot. Breloom, you totally sissied out. Meowstic... dudette, you done bonked it."

Rotom started to whisper in Azelf's ear again, but Azelf pushed him away. "Now, one of you has lost by a landslide. Like, thirteen to four."

"What?" Taillow asked. "Then what's with all the suspense?"

"Excuse you, I am _trying _ to create quality television for our viewers, and also quality words for our readers." He took a deep breathe to compose himself, then exhaled. "The final marshmallow of the night goes to..."

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"...Breloom."

"Oh thank Mew," Breloom breathed, catching the marshmallow.

"Ew, Mew," Azelf said. "Sorry Meowstic, you're... Meowstic?"

Meowstic's head hung down, her shoulders heaving once again. But this time it was different. This time, she was... Laughing?

She started erupting in a torrent of laughter, showing no signs of dying down. After eons, she was finally able to speak. "Nice. _Real _nice. You'd get rid of me. Well, let me tell you guys something. You've just lost your power player!"

"A power player who _can't play,_" said Furfrou.

"Furfrou!" Lampent gasped. "That was rude!"

"So is throwing a challenge just because she doesn't want to use her Psychic powers."

For one short, fleeting moment, Meowstic looked surprised, almost confused. Then she composed herself, gaining a proud expression. "Yeah, you're absolutely right!"

"Disgraceful," sneered Furfrou.

"Meowstic, the newly rebuilt Dock of Shame awaits," Azelf said, motioning his hand over to the dock that now had "super tubular" railings.

Meowstic, with a stance proud enough to fit others of her species, strided her way to the awaiting boat. But just as she disappeared from view into the darkness of the night that the boat resided in, a voice stopped her. "Hey, wait!"

Meowstic turned around, just able to make out the form of... "Ampharos?"

Ampharos gave a sort of cocky grin. "Listen. I know you didn't throw the challenge, the same way you didn't want to jump off that cliff just because of your fur."

Meowstic's heart skipped a beat. Did she... know?

"I don't know _why _you didn't do this," Ampharos continued, causing Meowstic to exhale her breathe that even she didn't know she was holding. "But I do know that it's something you can't say. So, unless I'm wrong, which I seriously doubt..." She held out her flipper-like hand. "I just wanna wish you luck."

Meowstic just stared at the hand, wide-eyed, until she finally cracked a smile. "You too," she said, grasping the hand and giving a firm shake. With a final smile, Meowstic boarded the boat, and the boat sailed, soon disappearing from view.

Furret walked up to Ampharos, confused at the whole ordeal. "I don't understand. I though you didn't like Meowstic."

"I didn't," she admitted. "But no one throws a challenge and then cries about it, don't'cha think?"

Furret nodded idlely.

"She's still a good Pokemon, and that's enough for me," Ampharos finished, putting her arms around the back of her neck. "Ah, I'm hungry. Want some food?"

"Yeah," Furret nodded, and as she and her new friend walked over to the mess hall, she caught sight of Breloom, the Grass type still savoring the sight of his marshmallow. And suddenly, Ampharos's words made a little more sense.

* * *

**Votes: 4 Breloom (Meowstic, Mr. Mime, Natu, Ampharos); 13 Meowstic (everyone else)**

**Eliminated: Meowstic**

**A/N: And there goes the most interesting character I'll ever write for. But don't worry. Her story isn't nearly over yet. Why, some say it's just beginning. No one says it's in the middle.**

**So, we've got some plotlines right now! Furret/Breloom and Helioptile's little gag come to mind, and we've got lots of friendship duos like Venipede/Skorupi (even if Venipede doesn't like it), Masquerain/Corsola, Munchlax/Hippopotas, and Shuckle/Dunsparce (best party bros ever).**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed/followed/favorited/read/knows of the existence of this fic. Seriously, it's you guys who make this whole thing possible.**

**And sorry if some characters have more screentime than others. They'll each have theirs soon enough.**

**NEXT TIME: "The Big Sleep" Yet another by-the-book challenge as the remaining thirty-three participate in the thing we call the Awakeathon. Yeah. Stifle your screams, NoCo fan girls, this ain't happening.**

**Criticism is obliged! See ya!**


	3. The Big Sleep

**This took so long, I apologize! It's a major long chapter, and I've had computer problems for the last few months.**

**A side note before we begin: horizontal rule lines (those big grey lines you see that separate scenes) will be used to separate larger scenes, while triple percentages (%%%) will be used to either switch from short scenes or used for confessionals, the latter I'm sure you've all noticed. Given how the beginning is, triple percentages will be prominently used.**

**As for the challenge, bolded/italicized numbers in brackets (_[#]_) determine how many Mesprits are still awake. Bolded/underlined numbers in brackets ([#]) are for Uxies.**

**Now, last time, we had poor Meowstic completely bomb the challenge and subsequently got eliminated. Today, the teams will compete in the one, the only, Awakeathon! Let's go!**

* * *

"Good morning campers!" Azelf's cheery voice rang out through the intercoms. "Seeing as how last night was _totally cray-cray, _you guys can have a late start day. I'll see you all in the mess hall in two hours!" The intercom fizzled off, and everyone left to do their own things.

%%%

_Uxies/Girls_

A few of the Uxies decided to sleep in, those being Corsola, Girafarig, and Masquerain. Of course, only one was sleeping, given that her sleep talking was throwing off the other two's sleep cycles completely.

The one asleep, of course, was Girafarig, who kept mumbling her one-way conversations with her tail out loud. "Zzz... which? No, Lampent's too nice for that... no, I will not pair her up with Shuckle, stop asking that!"

Masquerain groaned, burying her head in her pillow.

**%%%**

**Masquerain: _(Her eyes have dark bags under them)_ I have had two collective hours of sleep the previous night.** _**Two. Hours. (She sighs) **_**I'm surprised that none of the others were that bothered. Perhaps it's just me?**

**%%%**

Corsola yawned. "Maybe it'd be better if we just left somewhere."

Masquerain stifled a tired chuckle. "And just where else could we sleep? The wilderness is not for me."

The Water type shrugged. "Bring a few pillows to the mess hall?"

Masquerain mulled it over. "I... suppose it's better than staying in here."

"Right on." With that, Corsola and Masquerain departed to the mess hall.

%%%

_Uxies/Girls/Outside_

The rest of the female Uxies were scattered about in the wilderness. Among them, Kricketune seemed the most at peace with the wilderness, for she started singing a peaceful melody to the baby Nidoran.

_"Just take a look around and then you'll see! Nothing will bring you down and that's a guarantee!"_

The group of Nidoran wasn't big; just two females and three males. But any audience was enough for Kricketune, as they all felt much more soothed listening to her voice.

_"With the warm sunlight and air so clean, oh what a sight we've never seen!"_

The Nidoran gave dopey smiles at this point, almost as if in a trance. One of them, the smaller of the two females, stepped lightly forward, standing on Kricketune's lap.

_"And every sight from this day on, becomes the light that fuels our song!"_

The song started to slow as Kricketune leaned in closer to the Nidoran and started lightly scratching under its chin.

_"Because we won't be sad when we say, 'I'm so glad' then we'll have quite the day...!"_

_"And nothing can bring you down today... When this is our one and only day...!"_

_"Yes... Our one and only day... is... todaaay...!"_

As soon as the song ended, the baby Nidoran dispersed, almost as if their minds couldn't process that the song had happened to begin with. But that didn't bother Kricketune. She was happy just bringing joy to the baby Pokemon within nature.

"Wow! That was amazing!"

Kricketune recoiled slightly, surprised that someone else was there. Actually, two. Igglybuff stood on top of the floating Hoppip. Recognizing them, Kricketune smiled. "Why, thank you!"

"And the fact that you're not singing at a really bad time makes our team like you more!" Hoppip gleefully added.

Confused, Kricketune merely said, "Oh, alright."

"I mean, it's not like the fans will hate you for that, since you're pretty much Ella, and that means that no fan can hate you!" Hoppip continued. "Or Numel, since he's, like, Noah. But if you guys are written wrong, then the fans will hate you. I dunno, I guess the fans hate it when the characters they like are changed up ever so slightly."

By now, both Kricketune and Igglybuff were royally confused.

Hoppip just kept floating there with a grin that said that her little rant wasn't something out of the ordinary to her. "Ah well. Let's go, Igglybuff!"

"Hi ho Hoppip, awaaaay!" Igglybuff cheered and she and Hoppip left Kricketune to her confusion.

**%%%**

**Igglybuff: I really do love having Hoppip as my friend. Soon, I'll have even more friends! It'll be great!**

**%%%**

_Uxies/Boys_

A lot of the guys had decided to sleep in, at least on the Uxies. Krokorok lied in his bunk, trying to catch up on some more sleep when a faint creaking sound wormed its way into his head, annoying him enough to snap down to Rampardos, "Dude, quit it!"

Rampardos poked his head up. "Quit what? College?"

"No, stop making the bed creak!"

Rampardos seemed confused. He wormed around in his bed only to discover that there wasn't a single creaking sound. "Nope, don't think it's me."

Their attentions shifted to an even louder creaking sound that came from across the room. Specifically, Magmar's bed.

Krokorok groaned. "I'm gonna kill that frickin' duck."

"DUCKS? WHERE?!" Magmar immediately shouted, suddenly awaking and fumbling off his bed.

Krokorok shrugged. "Good enough." He flopped back down on his bed, drifting off to sleep. Or, he would have, if someone's mutters didn't worm their way into his head. With a frustrated growl, he bolted up from his bed. "Whoever's doing that, you've got ten seconds before I take an extension cord _and shove it up your—"_

"Sorry," Absol said from atop his bunk. "I'm reading—" Suddenly, he stopped himself. "Nothing. It's nothing."

"Oh, _no you don't,_" snarled Krokorok, flinging his blanket to the side and hopping off his bed. He started marching over to Absol's bed. "I'm not about to go to sleep without knowing whatever it is that's keeping me up." He snatched away the piece of paper Absol was reading from and studied it. Of course, he couldn't make any sense of the darn thing. "What the hell...?"

Absol jumped down from his bunk and started quoting the paper, word for word. "_Hidden evil walks abound. Awakened by the ghastly frown."_

Krokorok just stared at him. "Dude, you write _poetry_? Lame."

"They're not poems." Absol batted the paper from Krokorok's hands and onto the ground under his paw. "They're prophecies. Little snippets of information of the future."

"Hey, wait, I thought you could already tell the future," Rampardos asked.

"It's not an innate ability," Absol explained. "Alone, I'm just as normal as the rest of you. But I do have a sixth sense for these things, and I have lines of ancient prophecies that I fear apply to now, or at least in the near future."

"So that..." Krokorok started, pointing to the piece of paper still under Absol's firm paw.

"Is a line from a prophecy, yes." Absol glanced at the other sheets on his bed. "The others are either connected to this one in some way, or are apart of the full prophecy this one is from. Whatever the case..." He looked away momentarily, as if deciding how to word the next sentence. Finally, with a dry tone, he said, "I wouldn't worry about it."

Krokorok shrugged, returning to his bed. Rampardos seemed a little more interested, but he ultimately did the same. Magmar just lied there, still dazed.

**%%%**

**Absol: To be honest... Whatever these lines are saying, they hint to something big, something that will come to pass during this game. And I fear that not all of us will like it. _(He shudders) _If I had the lines as organized as I could make them, maybe I stand a chance of changing what will happen. But they're so frustratingly unclear, it's hard to connect them together! **

**%%%**

_Uxies/Boys/Outside_

The only male Uxie that was closest to the cabins was Lucario, who felt that this exact clearing was the perfect place to meditate. Yes, of course it was. Right now, he sat in lotus position, eyes closed and the four black 'ears' raised up. For at that moment, he was at peace.

Except...

"Either join me or leave," he said suddenly, not even bothering to open his eyes.

There actually was someone there, and they seemed shocked that he noticed them.

"Well?" he continued.

The figure finally decided, and Lilligant stumbled forward until she was right in front of Lucario. "How did you—"

"Your aura," he said simply, a noticeable lack of harshness than with the previous statements he had just made. "It's shaped just like a Lilligant, ergo, you're Lilligant."

"...right," she said before taking a seat next to Lucario. "So, uhm..."

Lucario cracked an eye open, regarding Lilligant with an unspoken, _"Well?"_

She stuttered before finally getting to the point. "Thank you."

He gave a slight nod before closing his eyes again. "There's no need for thanks."

"Well, to me there is."

He didn't speak, though something about him gave Lilligant the feeling that he still wanted to continue their conversation. "So, uhm... You're meditating, right?"

"Correct."

"How does that work?"

"By unifying your body, mind, and soul," he said so offhandedly, as if he knew this the way people knew the order of the alphabet.

"That sounds difficult."

"For the untrained, yes," he nodded. Then he opened his eyes, his 'ears' falling back down. "Would you like to be trained?"

It was so sudden, she fumbled for a response. "I—uh—yes, yeah! I mean, if you want to teach me."

"Why else would I make the offer?" he challenged.

"Technically, you never really offered. You just asked if I wanted to be trained," she countered.

With a nod of slight admiration, he said, "Fair point. Would you like for me to teach you?"

"Yes." This time, it was without hesitation.

And so they spent their time harmonizing their inner selves, Lilligant being a novice but still competent in meditating. For Lilligant, it was finally a chance to thank him for pulling her up from the water. For Lucario, it was finally the chance to teach a kindred spirit what he knew. And while it wasn't noticeable in Lucario's case, both of them enjoyed it.

%%%

_Mesprits/Girls_

"Hey, Ampharos..."

"Huh?" the Electric type asked, turning from her spot in her bed.

"Are we, like... friends?" Furret tentatively asked.

Ampharos gave a wide smile. "Of course we are! What kind of question is that?"

"It's just... I don't really _have _a lot of friends, and—"

"What, don't tell me you're some kind of loner."

Furret shook her head. "No, not at all. I mean, people like me back at home, but they don't really like me enough to feel comfortable with me, so—"

"Say no more!" Ampharos said, flinging her blanket away and jumping from her bed. She flung her arm around Furret's non-existant shoulders. "I swear it, come tomorrow, you're gonna be the talk of the walk!"

"But that's not what I—"

"Come one, first stop, guys side!"

Furret couldn't even finish her flat "What" before being pulled outside.

**%%%**

**Furret: I'd do anything for friends, really. But I don't want to be the thing everyone's talking about. It's... _(She shudders) _I just want some friends I can rely on, that's it.**

**%%%**

Floette and Natu just stared at their sudden exit, while Inkay simply giggled and continued bouncing on her bed.

%%%

_Mesprits/Girls/Outside_

"Hel-looo? Venipede!" Skorupi called out. By her ragged breathe, it was evident that she had been looking for hours. "Come on, just tell me where you are... I'm getting tired over here!"

A rustling in a nearby tree caused Skorupi's eyes to dart there, then upward. "There you are!"

From atop a tree branch, Venipede said, "You know, did it ever occur to you that there's a _reason _I'm up here?"

"Hey now, don't be like that. We're friends, aren't we?"

"We just met yesterday."

"And if I'm looking for you now, there's a good reason for it!" Skorupi said. "I'm climbing up, okay?"

Venipede just gave a smirk as she watched Skorupi try and climb the tree. 'Try' being the key word. Within a few seconds, Skorupi found herself sliding off.

Confused, she said, "Wait, is this..._bacon grease?"_

Before Venipede could respond, the rustling of a nearby bush shifted their attention. Munchlax, Hippopotas, Dunsparce, and Shuckle emerged.

"Wow," Venipede drawled. "If it isn't Jolly Roger, Wonder Boy, Party Guy, and Other guy."

"Hey, give me a nickname next!" Skorupi said.

"Did you get her down yet?" Munchlax asked.

"Yeah, of course she did," Venipede droned on, lying back down on the tree branch. "I'm obviously on the ground, standing right next to you." When Munchlax showed signs of actually falling for it and preparing to respond, Venipede intercepted him. "What do you want me for?"

"The radical party we're throwing!" Dunsparce hollered. "We finally found a disco ball!"

"Does it look like I'm the kind of girl who parties?"

"That's what Skorupi said."

Venipede gave a fierce glare to the purple bug, who simple gave an 'Oh well' shrug. With an irritated sigh, Venipede said, "Look, sorry, but I'm not up to it. Can't you just let me sleep?"

"You sleep up here?" Hippopotas asked.

"Better than the beds, that's for sure."

"...Okay. I guess we'll just go," Hippopotas stammered.

Munvhlax frowned. "But... But the party..."

"Don't worry," Hippopotas said, putting a 'hand' on Munchlax's shoulder. "Five is still—...uh, sorry."

Of course, Hippopotas had accidentally pushed Munchlax straight into the ground, only his head visible.

"Sorry! I'll go get help!" Hippopotas said before running off.

Munchlax just looked back up to Venipede and said, "So, that's a 'no', right?"

Venipede nodded.

"Okay. Hey, Dunsparce, Shuckle! Go see if Spheal is up for this!"

"But she's on the other team," Shuckle said then shook his head. "Ah, never mind. It doesn't matter." And so the party brothers left, leaving only Venipede, Skorupi, and Munchlax. They stayed in silence for the longest time.

"Hey, wanna play go fish?" Skorupi asked.

* * *

_Mesprits/Boys_

"Hey, look at this."

Corphish held up the crudely made invitation to Breloom and Taillow. "_'You are radically invited to the most tubular of fun-casions. Tonight, we're gonna party like it's almost 2015. Let's hope we get those flying cars already. From; Dunsparce, Shuckle, Munchlax, Hippopotas, Skorupi and Dunsparce again, because Dunsparce is wicked cool.' _"

"Huh. Sounds fun," Taillow said.

"Don't we have a challenge tonight, though?" Breloom asked.

Corphish scoffed. "Dude, live a little. We can just ditch the challenge or something."

"I'd rather not get eliminated so early, you know."

"Ah, whatever. Maybe they'll just reschedule it." Then, in a low voice, Corphish said, "'Course, that'd be mega lame..."

"Come on, guys," Taillow said. "It doesn't matter when it is. But if it's hosted by the party bros, it has to be amazing, right?"

Breloom just gave him an odd look. "Party bros?"

"Dunsparce and Shuckle," Taillow explained. "That's what we're all calling them now. Trust me, it's a lot better than just saying their names."

"All in favor of being in the party, say a word you don't know. Insolent!" Corphish shouted, raising a claw.

Breloom stared at him. "Uh, insolent means—"

"See, the point here is that I _don't know it, _ya dig?"

"Right. Uh, antidisestablishmentarianism?"

"I thought they cured that."

"...What?"

"Yeah, I think I took off that puce ribbon because they cured it."

"You are one strange guy, Corphish."

"I prefer the term 'amazing'."

Taillow raised a wing. "Alright, sassafras!"

With a cheer, Corphish and Breloom each raised their appendages.

Suddenly, the door burst open, revealing Ampharos and Furret. Breloom instinctively gave a girlish shriek.

Holding Furret up like a rag doll, Ampharos said, "This girl needs friends! Any takers?"

"Sure!" Breloom said a little too quickly. Seeing the stares from Taillow and Corphish, he shrank back a little. "Uh, I mean, yeah, sure. We could all be a quintet of friends, right?" He gave an awkward chuckle that wasn't joined in by anyone else, which caused his to die down.

Furret squirmed in Ampharos's grasp. "Uhm, you're kind of hurting my arm..."

"Oh, whoops." She dropped the Normal type to the ground, though she didn't land all too softly. "But still guys. Pack of friends, yay or nay?"

"I say yay!" Corphish said. "Just think, we'd be the perfect band of friends! I'm the hilarious and charming one, and you guys are my lackeys!"

"Dude!" Taillow said.

"Relax, I'm kidding. See how funny that was?" he asked, eyebrows continuously poking up.

"...actually, that was pretty funny. Okay, I'm on board!"

Breloom, however, hurried over to help Furret back on her feet before saying, "I'm on board too! I mean, if you want me to, that is. Like, if that's not a problem."

Furret gave a laugh as nervous as Breloom was feeling. "I—yeah, sure! It's no problem! Unless you don't want to, uhm, y'know, be on board." Realizing that she had already been helped to stand up and that she still had held Breloom for support, she quickly swiped her hands away and gave an even more nervous laugh. "Oh, uhm, thank you."

"No problem," he said, giving an even _more _nervous laugh. "I'm, uh, yeah, totally on board with this."

"Aw yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" Ampharos cheered, slinging each arm over Furret and Breloom. "The five of us together, nothing's gonna go wrong!"

The newly formed band of friends gave a simultaneous cheer.

* * *

_(Mess Hall)_

"I'm just saying dude, no one thinks that star thing is gonna be a character."

"Like they thought the triangle guy wouldn't," Rotom scoffed.

Tipping his cup of coffee slightly at Rotom, Azelf said, "Come on, it's in its second season. It's not gonna happen."

"Well, they're definitely having the little psychic escape from prison."

"Why?"

"So the headlines can say 'Small Medium at Large' and if they actually pass over that opportunity, I can't watch that show anymore."

Azelf just stared at him. "Dude. That'd be amazing."

Someone cleared their throat, startling the host and cook. When it was just revealed to be Lampent, Azelf scowled slightly. "When'd you get here?"

"I've been standing here this whole time. I didn't really want to interrupt, so..." Lampent trailed off.

"She's not the only one who's here," said Corsola, rising from the seat she'd been sleeping on. "Masquerain and I have been sleeping here for a good half hour."

Masquerain lifted her head up to say, "Indeed. And I believe that Helioptile's been hiding under the next table."

"Thanks a lot..." Helioptile sighed, his tail visible from under the table.

Azelf groaned. "Ugh, look, this was _supposed _to be a break for us too. So unless you're blind and want cereal, get out."

"I'd like some breakfast," Lampent said. "That's... kind of why I was waiting here."

Rotom reached from under the counter and took out a GoGo Pastry, a totally awesome food that doesn't try to bypass brand names for whatever reason. "Here you go."

Lampent accepted it, though eyed the packaging. "This is... This is a Pop-Tart."

Suddenly, Rotom popped out of existence. Seriously. With a little pop-noise and everything, he just flat out ceased to exist.

She shrieked. "W-Where'd he go?!"

Azelf gave a weary sigh. "We didn't have enough in the budget to reference anything by what it's called in real life, so we had to take Rotom out as compensation." Seeing the look of horror on the Ghost's face, he hastily added, "Don't worry, it's just for this scene. We'll be seeing him during the Awake-a-thon."

"The Awake-a-thon?" asked Zoroark, suddenly appearing next to Azelf. "And just what is that?"

Azelf gave a gasp, recoiling slightly. "Ghh! Zoroark! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I've been... I was here the entire time. I was standing right next to you."

"Yeah, right."

"So have these guys," Zoroark said, pointing behind him to Numel, Furfrou, Mr. Mime, and Spheal.

Azelf had an expression that bordered on 'terrified'.

"You have really ducky peripheral vision," Numel said. Then he blinked, confused. "What the duck? I said 'sucky'._ Suh–ckee._"

"Yeah, the URN doesn't really want you guys swearing," Azelf explained, now over his bout of terror. "So they censored you."

"But I just said sucky two times after that."

"They thought you were gonna say a different word."

"That doesn't even—"

"Shut up and take a GoGo Pastry," Azelf said, chucking a package at Numel, nailing him right in the eye.

Ignoring the camel's moans of eye gorging agony, Zoroark said to the host, "So I'm guessing that Awake-a-thon is our challenge for today, whatever it may be."

"Duh." With a yawn, Azelf said, "Look, we should be starting in, like, ten minutes. Just hang out here until everyone else joins in."

"What happened to 'get out'?" Furfrou asked, eyebrow raised.

"It's no fun without Rotom to talk to," he said simply. "Now I don't really care anymore."

"I'm still wondering what the Awake-a-thon _is,_" Zoroark added.

"Dude, just wait."

"But what's so wrong with knowing now?"

"Dude."

"It's a legitimate question!" Zoroark countered.

"Okay, fine!" Azelf scowled. "You wanna know about the Awake-a-thon?" He telekinetically opened the door outside. "Make a lap around the island, on the double."

"Wha—"

"You wanna get a headstart on everyone else, or do you wanna complain?"

Recognizing that the implication that everyone else was eventually doing this as well didn't actually make the feat seem that bad, Zoroark decided to comply, jogging out the door.

**%%%**

**Zoroark: Stay a step ahead, and what could go wrong?**

**%%%**

Azelf turned to the others that stood there. "You wanna get some screentime and go too, or are we gonna have a problem?"

They stayed silent, despite the fact that Mr. Mime and Spheal didn't get their allotted quota of lines.

"Alright then," Azelf said, then produced a PA microphone from thin air. _"Attention campers! Please come to the mess hall for your challenge. No shows will be eliminated! Thanks!"_

* * *

"I'm glad you all could come," Azelf grinned, regarding the thirty-two of them who stood cramped together.

"Oh, I am so joyously glad as well, Azelf!" Kricketune chirped.

"Look who cares. I do, somewhat! Now then, to start, I want each of you to run a lap around the island."

That was met with multiple groans.

"Jeez, chill. It's not like you're going to die or anything."

"Do we have to _run?__" _Taillow asked. "Couldn't we just fly or something."

"That depends; am I the greatest host ever?"

"Uh, yes?"

"Then yes, if you have the means, you can fly or float. Just make it around the island. Sound fair?"

Again, that was met with a few moans, but mostly from the 'grounded' of the group.

Azelf grinned. "Okay, go!" He raised an air horn and blew it at close range. So close, in fact, that they all screamed and bolted out.

* * *

It was hours later when the first of the returned. Specifically, Hoppip, with Igglybuff held on top.

Azelf sat on a chair, leaning back while sipping some coffee. He seemed genuinely surprised. "Huh. I was expecting Zoroark to get here first. He kind of had a head start against you guys."

"Yeah, well, I have Izzy powers," Hoppip said. She landed down close enough to allow Igglybuff to step off, then headed for the door. "And since I'm part Izzy, I need to make sure Munchlax and Numel aren't dead! See ya!" With that, she floated out.

Azelf took a swig from his coffee before regarding Igglybuff. "How's it feel to be one of the firsts in here?"

"Great!" Igglybuff said. "It's perfect! Everyone will be coming in one at a time, and I can make friends with each of them individually."

With a nostalgic chuckle, Azelf said, "Ah, optimism. I remember when Mesprit had that phase."

"Optimism's a phase?" It wasn't Igglybuff who said that, though. Rather, it was Floette, the tiny Pokemon who was seemingly hanging onto Igglybuff's head fluff for quite a while. After revealing herself, she hopped off, floating to the ground. "Seems more like a state of mind, don't it?"

"Thanks for taking the fun out of mocking my sister, really appreciate it," Azelf sighed. "Think anyone else is gonna come soon?"

"Nope!" both Igglybuff and Floette chirped.

With a yawn, Azelf said, "Wake me up later then, alright?"

"Why?" Floette asked.

"Because I don't feel like being awake for every individual entry."

"But that doesn't—"

"Sorry, can't hear you, I'm asleep." He closed his eyes and started making comically exaggerated snores. After a few rounds of this, he cracked one eye open, amused to still see the duo still there. Smirking, he said, "You're gonna envy this once you find out what the challenge is. Trust me."

With those words, he shut his eyes again, soon giving off a more peaceful, genuine snore.

Igglybuff and Floette looked at each other. "Wanna play cards?" Floette asked.

"Sure!"

* * *

It was another two hours before everyone successfully made it to the mess hall. It probably would've been three hours if Hoppip didn't go and help Munchlax and Numel, the two of them the least fit for any spontaneous marathon.

Floette gently nudged Azelf. "We're all here, wake up."

Azelf yawned, stretching his arms out. "Yeah, that was a nice nap."

"So... exactly _why _did we run around the entirety of the island?" Zoroark asked suspiciously. "This isn't the challenge, right?"

Azelf scoffed. "Of course not. This was just to get you prepped for the Awakeathon!"

"Awake-a-whosit?" Magmar asked.

"Awakeathon! By the way, here's some food." He pulled down the curtain behind him, revealing an entire banquet of... turkey?

"_**GIMME.**_" Munchlax immediately bolted for the turkey, gobbling it up in ten seconds flat. Of course, there was none left for anyone else.

"Phooey!" Spheal said. "I was hungry, too!"

"Same here..." Ampharos mumbled, though her attention was focused primarily on the empty table. "You ate... everything, Munchlax. Everything..."

He gave a sheepish shrug. "Sorry."

"I think I'm gonna faint..."

Azelf flung his arm around Ampharos's non-existent shoulders. "Now, now, you can't faint now! You'll be out of the challenge before it even begins!"

"I think I get what the Awakeathon is now," Zoroark said.

"If you do, great. But I'm the host, so I'll explain. Basically, each of you will go to the campfire pit and stay awake for as long as you can. The one who stays awake the longest wins it for their team."

Venipede glared. "That run around the island was just to get us tired before the challenge, wasn't it?"

"I'd be lying if I said no."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course."

Azelf clasped his hands together. "Now, if you'll follow me to the campfire pit, we'll begin!"

* * *

**Day 1**

**0 Hours**

"And it begins!" Azelf gleefully said, sitting atop a lifeguard's chair, with Rotom by his side. "How long can you last? Because remember; anyone can be eliminated!"

This was met with some uneasy moans, though everyone mostly stayed ready at the campfire pit. Seeing as how the area was rather large, both teams were able to distance themselves with ease.

"If you have any questions, you know where to find me!" Azelf concluded, leaving the teams to themselves.

For the Annoying Uxies, they started some idle discussion as to what exactly they could do.

"We could sing!" Kricketune gleefully input. "Oh, I know this most splendid song!"

"Could it keep us awake?" Corsola asked.

"Let us see!" Kricketune gently pull Girafarig towards her, and started to sing. Unfortunately though, she literally did sing; as in, us the move Sing. Girafarig did not stand a chance. Neither did Kricketune, for she was so invested in her song that it put her to sleep as well.

**[15]**

"Well, that was fast," Numel groaned.

"I agree," said Masquerain. "Perhaps we should find something that can keep us entertained for the long run."

"Like a video game?" Krokorok asked, then sneered. "Yeah, right. Like we'd have anything like that in this hellhole of a camp."

Masquerain frowned. "I was thinking of something more... _practical."_

"Like what?" Corsola inquired.

With an almost giddy grin, Masquerain said, "A play, of course!"

Corsola gave a nod, warming up to the idea. "That sounds nice. I'd be for that!" Turning to Lucario, who seemed to be holding the leadership role, she said, "What do you think?"

Lucario raised an eyebrow.

"You're the leader and all," Corsola explained, reading Lucario's intent. "If you approve, then there shouldn't be a problem with us acting out a play."

"Not just _acting," _Masquerain interrupted, "but actually preparing and writing it! To out your heart and soul in a creation that we can all contribute to..." She closed her eyes, gaining a wistful expression. With a near-pleasurable moan, Masquerain opened her eyes and said, "It'd be splendid! And it would keep us awake for a good few days!"

Lilligant smiled. "That sounds really nice! What do you think, Lucario?"

Lucario, however, frowned. "The problem with that is the fact that we'd be utterly exhausted before we could even have the chance to perform it."

"Then could..." Masquerain stopped for the span of a heartbeat, as if debating whether or not to take a risk with her offer. Finally, she said, "Then what if _I _were to prepare it? I could be able to write an entire screenplay. In fact, I have a marvelous idea that's been stewing in my head."

Lucario narrowed his gaze, staying silent for a good while until he finally came to his conclusion. "Alright then."

Masquerain squealed in delight. Before anyone could say anything else, she had gathered the papers and writing utensils she had acquired and bolted for a tree stump that would provide preferable writing space.

With her gone, Lucario gave a pointed glance to Corsola. "Do you have faith in her abilities?"

Corsola nodded.

"Then I do as well," he said. With a hum, he closed his eyes, got in lotus position, and started meditating.

Krokorok scoffed. "You sure you wanna do that? What if Azelf thinks your sleeping?"

His answer was to raise his four black 'ears', thus showing that, as long as they were up, so was Lucario.

"Whatever." Krokorok rolled his eyes. "So, what now?"

"We decide on what to do, of course," Absol said simply.

"Duh, Einstein."

And for a good span of time, the team started talking on what exactly they were supposed to do. After suggestions of playing games, sabotaging the other team (that came from Krokorok himself), and even reading some mystery novels (Lampent's suggestion, curiously enough), they finally came to the conclusion that there was absolutely nothing to do as a group.

Yeah. This was gonna suck.

%%%

_Mesprits_

"I tell ya, dudes," Corphish said to his two friends (Taillow and Breloom, obviously), reclining on a tree stump. "If we got any more bored, we'd be dead."

Taillow shuddered. "Let's not think like that. There's gotta be something, right?"

"Heck if I know," Corphish shrugged. "You got anything, Breloom?"

"..." Breloom seemed distracted at something, for he didn't even notice Corphish speaking to him.

"Dude."

"Huh?" he said, finally breaking free from his distraction. "Oh, uhm... Pass?"

Corphish glanced over to the direction Breloom had beenstaring, and immediately connected the dots. "You know, you can just _talk _to her. We're aapart of my ggroup now, aren't we?"

Taillow, too, glanced over. "What, Furret?"

Breloom gave a hesitant nod.

"You were staring at her, and she didn't even notice?"

Breloom gave a frantic silencing gesture. "Don't say that! She might hear!"

With a scoff, Corphish said, "Maybe you can try talking to her, so you don't look like a freak."

"That's not it," Breloom said, shuffling about in his spot. "I just..." He trailed off, sighing.

**%%%**

**Breloom: Okay, uh, so, Furret. Nice girl. ...Okay, _super nice. _I want to go talk to her and everything, but she looks like she's... thinking, I guess? I don't want to bother her or anything.**

**_(A knock is heard on the door, and Corphish's voice yells out, "Oi! Don't be a coward, dude!")_  
**

**Breloom: I'm not a—I don't—Stop eavesdropping!**

_**("Can ya help it? These walls are like cardboard!")**_

_**%%%**_

"Listen guys..." Breloom said hesitantly. "Can we just forget it?"

"Forget the girl you're pining for?" Taillow said.

At that, Breloom's face flushed. "Uh, yeah. However you want to put it. Let's just talk about whatever it is you were talking about before."

"Hey hey, like _that's _gonna get us anywhere," Corphish said. "We got absolutely nothing to do, which is what we were talking about. Got any ideas?"

"Uh, no, don't think so."

"Wow. You're boring."

"Says the guy asking the boring guy for ideas."

Corphish chuckled at that. "Alright, that was pretty good. Anyone got a set of cards, then?"

"Why would we have those?" Taillow asked.

"Gee, I dunno. Maybe because card games are literally the only thing we could do for a few hours other than just sitting?"

"The snark is strong with this one," Taillow snickered.

Suddenly, Skorupi revealed herself from behind Taillow. "Don't let Venipede hear that!"

"Ghh!" Taillow gasped, turning around so fast he fell to the ground.

"Whoops," she said simply, then glanced up to the other two. "You guys said you're bored, right?"

"Duh." "How long have you been here?" Corphish and Breloom asked, respectively.

Skorupi ignored the latter question. "Just tough it out for a few more hours, and then you'll be rock in' the dance floor."

Corphish gaped at that. "What, you mean the party's still on?" His eyes gleamed, excitement causing him to stand up at once. "We're gonna party?"

"Of course! We send out in invites; it'd be insane to just _not have it._"

"Smart would be the right word," came a voice from behind Skorupi.

The bug turned and immediately smiled. 'Hey, Venipede! You change your mind about the party?"

"At first, I didn't really care for a party," she said.

Skorupi gave an expectant expression, urging Venipede to go on.

"Now I'm absolutely sure my answer's a no."

Skorupi's expression cracked, showing immense confusion. "Buh—What? Why not?!"

"Are you dense?" Venipede said. "We're in the middle of a challenge; an _Awake-a-thon. _Getting in a full-blown party is just asking to pass out within a day."

Skorupi frowned. "Well, yeah, if you don't party right."

"What the—How do you... How are you supposed to party in a _right _way?"

"Takes some practice, y'know. But I bet Dunsparce could teach you!"

"I'm gonna have to say n—" Venipede started, though Skorupi immediately started pulling her away to learn the ways of the party. "Hey, stop! I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIIIIiiiiis..." With that, they were gone.

After a beat of silence, Breloom nervously asked, "How long have they been here, listening?"

"Don't know, don't care," Corphish dismissed. "We gotta start getting ready for the party."

"But that's not for hours, isn't it?" Taillow asked.

"Of course."

"We can't just take hours to get ready."

"Hey, I'm tryna make this the best party ever, so you're either with me or not."

"...Alright, I'm on board." Turning to Breloom, Taillow asked, "How about you?"

Breloom rubbed the back or his neck (an action that would've been deemed impossible by Meowstic, if she were here). "I think I'm just gonna stay here."

Taillow frowned, but before he could say anything, Corphish interrupted, "Alright, have fun, dude. Come on, Taillow!" With that, he pulled Taillow with him and ran off.

* * *

"Remind me again why we just left him hanging."

"Shut up for a minute. Think this tie'll be good for having it hanging loose like I just got home from work?"

Corphish's remark brought a hint of anger to Taillow. "No! Forget about that! Couldn't we have tried convincing Breloom to join us?"

Corphish scoffed. "Didn't you see him? The dude was dead set on trying to decide whether or not to talk to Furret."

"Still! We could've at least _tried."_

"Hey, come on buddy, we've got more important things at hand." He threw an arm around Taillow's non-existant shoulders. "In just a few hours, we are gonna party so hard, we won't know what happened until next week!"

Taillow gave a frustrated frown, lightly batting Corphish's arm off. "I got that. But it just really irks me how we just—just _gave up!"_

WWith a melodramatic sigh, Corphish said, "Look, if we go talk to him later, will that make ya happy?"

"Yeah."

"Then fine. But for now..." He held up a tattered striped and polka dotted tie. "This tie, right?"

* * *

**Night 1**

**12 Hours**

**_[16] _[15]**

By the twelfth hour, the teams were starting to feel the brunt of the drowsiness coming on. And with Dunsparce, Munchlax, Shuckle, Hippopotas, Skorupi, and Spheal nowhere to be found... well, no one cared. They were too tired, see.

But not Magmar, apparently. In fact, he felt the need to give a hearty laugh of malice towards the other team. "Hey losers! How's it feel to so much?"

Numel, who was sitting on a log behind Magmar, snickered. "Censors strike again."

Furfrou, who was sitting in between Numel's log and a tree stump, glared at Magmar. "Hey, dumb ass, in case you haven't noticed, _we're losing so far."_

"So?"

Snarling, Furfrou called over to Azelf. "If we forfeit the challenge, can we have Magmar automatically eliminated?"

"Huh?" Azelf asked, setting his magazine down. He floated off from his high chair and said, "Furfrou, just yesterday you wanted everyone to not give up. What the heck, dude?"

"Magmar irks me," Furfrou said simply.

"Well, whatever. No. We can't have teams winning by a landslide."

"Then can I knock Magmar out?"

"Now _that _I approve of," Azelf smirked, floating off.

Before Furfrou could even get up to buck Magmar senseless, the tree stump... spoke? "Furfrou! You'll get voted off!"

That muffled voice was one Furfrou recognized. "What the hell are you doing in there, Helioptile?" he snarled.

"I'm hiding from the cameras," Helioptile said simply. He let the tip of his tail wiggle out. "See me?"

"I'm seeing an idiot."

"Magmar can't be the brunt of your jokes forever."

"...alright, we're on good terms now."

Suddenly, what little light they had from the campfire and torches evaporated. All was silent and dark, until...

_Clink!_

_Clank!_

_FWOOSH!_

A huge burst of fire flared up, illuminated the Mesprit's cabins as if it were a holy symbol. Standing on a makeshift podium were Dunsparce and Shuckle, with Hippopotas and Munchlax on one side and Skorupi and Spheal on the other.

Then, suddenly, music started. Shuckle put on his shades, grabbed a microphone from who-knew-where, and began to rap. _"Workin' all day, now it's time to unwind!"_

As Shuckle tilted the microphone to his friend, Dunsparce leaned in, putting on his own makeshift shades, and sang the next line. _"Kick back, relax, take a load off your mind!"_

_"I'll be bustin' the moves!" _Dunsparce.

_"I'll be bustin' the rhymes!" _Shuckle.

The duo sang together with, _"We'll be bustin' up laughin'—"_

_"'CAUSE IT'S PARTY TIME!" _all six of them chimed in.

From within his stump, Helioptile's muffled voice asked Furfrou, "Can you rap like that?"

"No. Shut up."

Dunsparce and Shuckle continued, with the other four joining in for any line that said "Party Time!" (effectively becoming the chorus), even more special effects flaring around them to drive home the point that this party would be _wicked cool._

_"Party time!"_

_"It's party time!" _

_"Everybody's feelin' fine 'cause it's party time!"_

Venipede rolled her eyes, scoffing. "I'm telling you, a party at this time is _completely stupid._"

Skorupi appeared from behind Venipede (causing the latter to recoil slightly) and continued the song. _"There's something you should know, and I'm gonna tell you so!"_

She hopped above Venipede and stood in front of her, moving her body to the rhythm slightly. _"Don't sweat it!"_

With another, larger hop, Skorupi ended up next to a large lever next to the cabin door. _"Forget it!"_

_"ENJOY THE SHOW!" _One huge pull of the lever forced wispy purple stage smoke out of the door (the fact that smoke could apparently break open a wooden door went unnoticed by the others), and everyone who sang crowded inside immediately, signalling the start of the party.

Almost no one else wanted to join, however. With the exceptions of Corphish and Taillow, everyone stayed in their seats, thinking of the song to be a nice change of pace, but not enough incentive to follow what the lyrics said.

Corphish and Taillow, meanwhile, shared an almost giddy high five as they headed over to the cabin. "I'm telling ya, dude, this is the stuff people get stoked for!"

Taillow started flying forward, going a bit farther than Corphish. "Then let's go!"

As soon as they got to the cabin, Corphish pulled the door handle, a ceremonious grin on his face.

And then pulled again, the smile frozen on his face. Still there, but confused.

Another pull, and he could tell something was up. "Hey!" he shouted, knocking on the door. "We wanna party!"

"SHH!" Azelf shushed, floating over to the duo. "Excuse you, we are _trying _to get people to sleep."

"Tell 'em to let us in!" Corphish said.

"The party? Sorry, dude, but we've got a strict 'six Pokemon per party' credo."

"No you don't!"

"Yeah, you're right. Blame the producers."

Corphish was practically steaming at this point. "But that-I-you-NO!"

Azelf just shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, Corphish. But the producers don't want you partying."

"Then why let the others party?" Taillow asked.

"Because they _like _them." He put up a hand to prevent Corphish from speaking up anymore. "Sorry dudes, but what the producers want, they get." With that, he floated away, leaving Corphish and Taillow standing outside.

The avian put a hand on Corphish's shoulder (assuming he had one, anyway), sighing at Corphish's frozen look of betrayal. "Come on, Corphish, don't be like th-"

"We're getting in," Corphish said suddenly. His face hadn't changed in the slightest, though his tone held so much conviction, it could've been treated as a fact.

Taillow seemed a bit shocked, but soon he broke into a wide smile. "Now _that's _what I wanted to hear! Come on, dude, let's go figure out a plan!"

He gave a determined nod, clenching his claws, and gave a mischievous grin. "Music to my ears."

%%%

"For Arceus's sake, just how loud are they gonna be?"

"To properly enjoy the party experience, very," Lucario said in response to the very frustrated Krokorok. The group (consisting of Lucario, Krokorok, Rampardos, Lilligant, Lampent, and Corsola) had not been fairing well, and with the party going on, Krokorok had started to become very irritated.

"Yeah, well, that's stupid." He pressed two pillows to his ears (assuming he had any, at any rate), groaning. "This suuuucks..."

"At least it's keeping us awake!" Lilligant chimed in.

"I agree," Lampent nodded. "I'm getting awfully tired. Thank goodness this party will keep me up all night."

Suddenly, Rampardos gasped. "Guys, I've got an idea!"

"Seriously?" Korkorok asked in disbelief.

"Uh huh!" Rampardos nodded his head rapidly, eyes gleaming like he was a kid in a candy store. "Just hear me out! Okay, so, you know how we're got a party going on?"

"Never noticed, wow, give it up for the genius, folks," Krokorok sneered.

Comically oblivious to this, Rampardos just continued. "Well, when most people try to sleep during a loud party, they can't sleep! So if I try to sleep, I won't!"

There was an awkward beat of silence.

"Uhm, Rampardos..." Lilligant started, trying to find a nice way to word her sentence. "Reverse psychology doesn't work on the body."

"When you're this tired," Lucario added. "It sounds reasonable in theory, but you won't last long."

Rampardos pouted. "Can't I just try?"

"Yeah, let's let the dumbass try," Krokorok snickered. "No skin off our tail."

Lilligant frowned. "We need as many people awake as possible."

"News flash; we're all gonna sleep eventually. And if we lose, it's better to vote off someone who slept pretty early, catch my drift?"

"Are you... Are you trying to set Rampardos up as a scapegoat?" Lilligant was appalled.

He smirked. "What if I am?"

"Doesn't matter now," Corsola sighed, bringing the attention to herself. "He already tried his plan." She pointed down to the now passed-out Rampardos.

**[14]**

Everyone sighed.

Krokorok rolled his eyes and stood up. "Whatever. I'm taking a walk." And before anybody could say anything else, he left. Like, seriously. How rude.

"Shouldn't someone go after him?" asked Lampent.

Lucario shook his head. "There'd be no point." That sentence caused the situation to die down, but there was still no denying the lingering glance Lucario had given in he direction Krokorok left.

Corsola cleared her throat. "So, who's still awake so far?"

"The four of us, plus Krokorok," Lilligant offered.

Lampent adopted a thoughtful pose. "I think Spheal was the only one to join the party, and Furfrou, Numel, Helioptile, and Magmar are still over there. Uh... Masquerain's still writing her play, right?" When Corsola nodded, Lampent continued. "Absol, I think, is doing his own thing, and Hoppip and Igglybuff are... somewhere. They seem too hyper to be asleep now, at any rate."

"So, fourteen," Corsola said.

From Azelf's spot, he yelled out, "Duh! Why do you think we have those little bracket indicators?"

"Thank you, Azelf," Lucario said neutrally. "Your input was definitely needed."

**%%%**

**Corsola: Lucario's the type where you physically can't tell whether he's being sarcastic or not.**

**%%%**

With that group basically doing nothing, nothing much really started happening. Whoever wasn't preoccupied with something sat in arduous silence. Taillow, however, had sheets of paper in his wings as he walked over to the cabins where Corphish was, no doubt, trying to break in.

"Okay, so I've got some plans I've written up," he said as he approached the cabin, not bothering to look up from his papers. "If you want to go in with a bang, I guess option F is your best bet, but the sneaky way is option C. Though I guess we can—" He finally glanced up, only to stop in mid sentence after seeing what Corphish was currently doing. "I'm not sure a pickaxe is the best way in."

Corphish turned to glare at Taillow in between heaves (causing him to hold he pickaxe right above his head). "I'm makin' progress, ain't I?"

"Uh..." One look at the wall and Taillow could tell that the pickaxe had done no digging whatsoever. If anything, the wall looked much more durable now. How that was possible is anyone's guess. "I plead the fifth."

Corphish scoffed, tossing the pickaxe away. "Whatever. Where'd you get those plans?"

"These?" He seemed genuinely shocked to discover that the plans Taillow held in his wings were the plans Corphish was referring to. As if there were any other plans on the island. "Natu and Ampharos helped me with them. You can pretty much guess that any plan with dynamite came from Ampharos."

Another scoff. "Dude, how are we supposed to get dynamite? It's not like there's any on the island."

"Really? So tell me, how's that pickaxe business going for you?"

There was a beat of silence.

"...So what's the dynamite plan do?"

Taillow rifled through the papers until he found the one he wanted and set it on top of the stack. "Option D, and we'd need some dynamite and shovels so we can dig under the door and stick explosives under it. Do that and boom! No more door, no more restrictions."

"Sounds good to me!" Corphish pumped his fist in the air. "We're gonna be partying real soon!"

Taillow, invigorated, pumped a fist in the air as well, cheering. "It's party time!"

Music suddenly came on, gradually growing lou—

"NO." Corphish snarled at the air. "NO MORE MUSIC."

The music started deflating, as if actually disappointed by this turn of events.

%%%

Unbeknownst to them, a certain crafty crocodile was watching the duo's preparations for their shenanigans, a devious gleam in his eyes. It wouldn't take much effortto foil their plans. With luck, they might even give up then and there, and there'd be two less competitors to worry about in this challenge. They'd fall like _that_. Maybe even forcibly...

A cold voice pierced his thoughts. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Ghh!" Krokorok recoiled at Lucario's sudden entrance, though masked that with a glare. "Ugh, dude, don't sneak up on me like that!"

Judging by the way Lucario's eyes narrowed, he certainly wasn't in the mood for any funny business. "I'll ask again; what do you think you're doing?"

He rolled his eyes. "I was just checking up on the other team, seeing if they're doing okay or n-"

"You're planning sabotage," Lucario said suddenly, his tone making evident that he knew this to be a statement of fact.

Krokorok glared. "If you knew that, then why'd you ask me?"

The Aura Pokemon crossed his arms. "I wanted to see if you'd tell the truth or not."

"Ugh, whatever. Just go back to the others, will you?"

"I'm not letting you sabotage the other team."

Krokorok scoffed, poking a finger at Lucario's chest. "Yeah, and what makes you think I'm gonna listen to _you_?"

In one quick motion, Lucario grasped Krokorok's wrist tightly, causing the latter to let out a shocked grunt. He leaned his head forward, his cold glare piercing through Krokorok's soul. "I won't tolerate sabotage on this team. If you want to win..." He freed Krokorok's wrist, pushing it away from his chest. "Then play fairly, or don't play at all. Have I made myself clear?"

Krokorok, rubbing his now-sore wrist, gave a defeated glare and said, "Yes, Mom."

Lucario gave a nod. "Let's return to the campfire pit."

Very reluctantly, Krokorok followed.

**%%%**

**Krokorok: Like I'd listen to _that _uptight jerk. I'll just have to try again later, now won't I?**

**%%%**

* * *

**Day 2**

**24 Hours**

_**[16]**_**[14]**

"Attention, campers!" Azelf gleefully shouted through a megaphone. "We're at the twenty-four hour mark, and-"

"OH ARCEUS CAN YOU PLEASE SHUT UP?"

Azelf just stared wide-eyed at the apparently very grouchy Venipede. "Sheesh. Who pissed in _your_ Corn Flakes?"

Rotom, who was stationed next to Azelf, sighed. "Stop referring to real life food brands, Azelf. We don't have the money for that."

"Sheesh, Rotom, who pissed in _your_-"

"KNOCK IT OFF."

Venipede pressed two pillows against her ears so tightly her appendages were turning white. "I swear to Arceus, I'm gonna go _insane _if I have to listen to you two or this STUPID PARTY." She directed the last shout to the cabin, who's party was still going strong.

Azelf spoke through the megaphone once more. "Sucks for you, Venipede!"

"WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT MEGAPHONE? OH MY GOD. DON'T YOU WANT US TO SLEEP?"

He shrugged. "It's the Awake-athon. Not like they're going to sleep right away. This _is _a long challenge."

"WHO HOSTS AN AWAKE-A-THON WITH _THIRTY-THREE PEOPLE?"_

**%%%**

**Venipede: _(Bags are under her eyes) _I can_not _stay awake longer than a day, or else I get _seriously cranky._**

**%%%**

Those who were still awake on Venipede's team (which was literally all of the Mesprits) spent their time doing whatever, albeit seriously boredly. After another half hour, Inkay finally fell asleep.

_**[15]**_

The only who wasn't doing anything was Furret, who was currently sitting in front of the campfire, yawning loudly.

This was finally the opportunity that Breloom took. He fumbled his way to the Normal type. "Uh, hi, Furret...!"

She seemed a bit shocked by his appearance, though that expression passed and was replaced by an awkward smile. "Oh, uhm, hey, Breloom!"

"Do you, uh, mind if I sit here?" He pointed to the spot next to her.

"No, not at all!"

So Breloom sat next to Furret. Obviously. What proceeded was an awkward minute of silence before either had the courage to say anything.

"So, uh, Furret..."

"Yeah...?"

"How are things?" He smiled, though internally he wanted to kick himself for the lame question.

She rubbed the back of her neck. "They're fine. It's kind of a bummer that Meowstic got voted off, right?"

Breloom frowned, looking down to the ground. "Yeah, but if she hadn't been voted off... I would have."

Furret just stared at Breloom's profile, debating whether or not to press the situation. Her decision made, she just sighed. "Yeah..."

**%%%**

**Furret: It's silly, but... I thought Breloom threw the last challenge, alright? Since we all thought Meowstic did the same, I guess my mind started drifting to the possibility that, y'know... That he didn't get scared? Something like that. I know, silly, and I might've been thinking out of paranoia... _(She yawns before continuing.) _But I remember what Ampharos said. No one who purposely throws a challenge would cry about it. Just like how Meowstic was sobbing, I saw Breloom looking at his marshmallow as if he really dodged a bullet. Which he kind of did. _(She pauses.) _This must be really long. Sorry...**

**%%%**

"But you weren't," Furret found herself continuing. "And you're still here. That's something to be thankful for, right?"

Breloom just stared at the ground sheepishly, still somewhat sad. "I guess you're right..."

He was a little more than shocked to feel something leaning on his side, that something, he discovered when glancing over, was Furret. His cheeks started to redden.

"I'm glad we're friends," Furret said softly, her eyes closed.

Breloom was trying to compose a coherent thought. "I-well-you know, I guess-...uhm..." He stopped, swallowing his anxiety, and kept it down just long enough to say, "So am I."

Furret didn't answer, and Breloom noted that her breathing was much softer now. And slower... Was she...?

_**[14]**_

Breloom sighed.

"Sheesh, dude, what are the odds?"

Breloom let out a small gasp and snapped his head back (thankfully not moving the now-sleeping Furret), only to see Ampharos, a wild grin plastered on her face, and Natu, who was situated on Ampharos's head. "W-What?! Have you guys been standing here this whole time?"

With a smirk, Ampharos ignored the question and said, "Looks like you're gonna have to stay there. With her on you. All day."

At that, Breloom's cheeks went from a slight pink tint to a down-right red blaze.

Ampharos snickered. "Good luck, dude."

Natu regarded Breloom with an almost passing glance. "We just got here when Furret fell asleep. Whatever it was that you two were doing still stays between you two."

Breloom sighed in relief.

"Not to be a downer, but you're not gonna make it another day, dude," Ampharos said. "Better to just go to sleep now."

Natu nodded, hopping off of Ampharos's head. "I do agree with her. You're basically incapable of moving, and in that scenario, it'll be that much harder to stay awake. And before you ask, I have no intentions of voting for you ag-...well, I don't believe you'd be up for elimination after this challenge, should our team lose. You'll be much better of going to sleep now."

Ampharos gave Natu a confused glance before turning back to Breloom. "Yeah, guess she's right... Breloom?"

A soft snore came from the now-sleeping figure of Breloom. Turns out he took Natu's words to heart after she spoke.

_**[13]**_

With Breloom now asleep, Ampharos's confused look came back once she turned to Natu. "What was that you said? 'Voting for him _again_'?"

"Indeed," Natu nodded. "My vote was for Breloom last elimination ceremony."

She frowned. "But why?"

"For the same reasons you voted for him as well," Natu said simply.

Ampharos's jar dropped slightly. "Whoa, what? How'd you know?"

Natu gave an almost amused grin as she met Ampharos's eyes. "I think I'll give you the satisfaction of figuring it out yourself, hmm?"

With that, Natu hopped away, leaving Ampharos very confused.

%%%

Meanwhile, the trio of Numel, Furfrou, and Helioptile were gradually becoming even border. As anyone would know, of course, boredom itself lead to drowsiness.

Furfrou yawned, then cursed under his breathe.

Helioptile, who was still in the log, took notice of this sound. "Sheesh, it hasn't even been two days yet?"

"Normal Pokemon get tired around this time," Numel pointed out.

Helioptile shrugged, though neither of the two could see it. "I don't. I'm used to this sort of thing."

Slightly alert, Numel cast a confused but narrowed look at Helioptile's log. "In what scenario would allow you to be used to this?"

It was Helioptile's turn to curse. "Look, let it drop, okay?"

"You're lucky I'm too tired for this." Numel gave a yawn. "Dunno about you guys, but I'm hitting the hay."

"Yes, of course, because it's totally okay to bail from another challenge," Furfrou grunted.

Numel raised a brow. "Sarcasm doesn't work with you. You've got a guttural sound twenty-four seven."

"You're avoiding the point, which I know you acknowledge," Furforu pointed out.

The camel shrugged. "Oh well. If I bail, I bail. I don't see why that has to be any of your concern."

Furfrou snarled. "It concerns me when the team _I'm apart of _is failing because someone purposely doesn't want to participate."

"Really?" he smirked. "Tell me, how's that Magmar hunt going for you?"

Suddenly, Magmar appeared behind Furforu. "Did someone mention my awesome na-"

_WHAM. _In one hard buck, Furfrou managed to nail Magmar right in the face, knocking him out cold.

**[13]**

"Yeah, that definitely helped your case," Numel chuckled, smirking.

Furfrou growled, but shrugged. "Magmar's an exception. A very annoying one."

"Meh." He gave another shrug. "Whatever. I'm still going to sleep."

The dog glared daggers at his teammate, but ultimately stayed silent.

Numel lied down, and within two minutes, he fell asleep.

**[12]**

Furfrou gave a frustrated scoff. "If he wants to throw away his chances of winning, then fine."

A minute of silence passed before Helioptile's voice rang out, "So, uh, how 'bout them Red Sawks?"

%%%

After Lampent had finally succumbed to the drowsiness (**[11]**) and Krokorok went off doing his own thing again (though Lucario didn't follow that time), only Lilligant, Lucario, and Corsola were together in their group. Feeling a case of 'third-wheeliness', Corsola excused herself and started to wander around, seeing who else she could talk to. She passed by Masquerain, who was working on her play at a rapid speed. Deciding against interrupting her, Corsola kept walking until a few stray strands of words caught her attention.

"...we fear this may become their final feud..."

Corsola approached Absol, who had been lying down and studying sheets of paper for the entire time (to her knowledge, at least). "What's that?"

Absol gasped and recoiled, snapping his head to Corsola. Realizing who she was, he relaxed slightly. "Sorry about that."

"Too focused on that, right?" She pointed a stubby leg to the sheets of paper. "What are they?"

"Nothing," he said a bit too quickly. Glancing back down to them, he remembered the events of the morning before the challenge and pursed his lips.

**%%%**

**Absol: As I've said, these prophecy lines are so unclear. Krokorok and Rampardos might not have been much help, but maybe Corsola might be. Would it hurt to try? ...No. It wouldn't.**

**%%%**

"_'Should evil choose to lock up good, We fear this may become their final feud'_," he quoted, showing the certain piece of paper to her.

She glanced down at the paper in question. "Sounds old. And rhyme-y. Is it a prophecy?"

Slightly alarmed, he said, "Well, yes. How'd you know."

"Old and rhyme-y," she repeated. "Just made sense."

Absol gave a hesitant nod. "Yes, I... suppose you're right." With even more reluctance, he asked, "Do you... happen to have any ideas on what this means?"

"You don't?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

"I have some idea," he admitted, "but nothing definite. All I know is that these lines relate to events happening in this competition."

Corsola furrowed her eyebrow. "How?"

"Think of it as a sixth sense of sorts."

She glanced down at the other sheets of paper. "Mind if I take a look at the rest?"

Absol shook his head sadly, covering the rest of the lines with his paw. "I'm sorry, but I'd like to figure out some of them for myself before I let anyone see them all."

She shrugged. "No problem. I'll leave you be. Good luck in the challenge." She turned and left, leaving Absol to his own devices.

**%%%**  
**Absol: (He's holding a few of the sheets of prophecy) My efforts to determine the meaning of these lines haven't been in vain. I'm confident that the first two—the ones dealing with hidden evil—are the first to happen in this competition. Or have happened, possibly. Or is happening at this moment...**

**(He sighs, setting the papers down) It's frustrating to not have a clear idea. Maybe I should've accepted Corsola's help after all. Better to have it solved by someone else than to be a mystery because of my own stubbornness. (He sighs)**  
**%%%**

"Ready, dude?"

"Corphish, I'm really not sure this is the best way to—"

"Shut up and pull!"

With a disgruntled sigh, Taillow started pulling the slingshot Corphish had positioned himself on. With a daredevil helmet and a bunch of dynamite grasped in his claws, the crustacean had a determined expression that would come to be trademark worthy.

Off in the distance, Azelf's voice could be heard. "It's Night 2, everyone! Thirty-six hours in!"

**Night 2**  
**36 hours**  
**[_13_][11]**

The bracket indicators that were seen at the bottom of the screen were positioned in such a way that they poked themselves right in Taillow's side. "Ow!"

"FOCUS, DUDE," Corphish yelled out.

"IT'S KIND OF HARD WHEN WORDS ARE HURTING ME, CORPHISH," Taillow shot back.

Azelf floated over and bundled up the indicators. "Carry on!" he said, moving away.

"HAVE YOU PULLED FAR ENOUGH YET?" Corphish asked, not even bothering to check to see if Taillow was okay.

"THIS ISN'T A GOOD IDEA, CORPHISH. YOU'RE GOING TO DIE."

"I'LL DIE LIKE A HERO."

"THEN LET ME JOIN YOU." In one quick movement, Taillow jumped over and squeezed himself next to Corphish, just before the slingshot released them straight to the cabin doors.

With a mighty CRASH, the duo lied there, dazed at the impact. Taillow was among the first to recuperate, and also the first to notice their results. "Dude... we're in..."

"We are?" Corphish raised his head, and almost squealed in delight. The door may have been turned to rubble, but they crashed hard enough to get inside the cabin, where the party was still kicking strong.

"PARTY TIME!" He cheered, raising his claws in the air, and then stopped. Corphish opened his claws, and his eyes widened upon seeing the dynamite still there, the fuses almost at the end. "OH F—"

%%%

"Did you hear that?"

"Must've been the wind, Azelf," Rotom hummed, not taking his eyes off of his magazine.

A muffled but still very loud BOOM echoed about.

"Yeah, that's definitely the sound that wind makes," Rotom nodded.

Azelf glanced slightly to the left, just noticing the remains of one of the cabins (why he couldn't see it before was anyone's guess). "Rotom, guard my chair," Azelf said, heading off before Rotom could even reply.

It didn't take long to get to the broken cabin. Looking inside, he did a quick telepathic read through of everyone's physical readings. He sighed in relief when he found out no one was seriously injured. Though the six partiers were unconscious.

**[_8_][10]**

He glanced down and sighed at Corphish and Taillow.

The Water type started groaning before feebly raising his head. "Did we get in the party...?"

Despite being ground zero for the dynamite explosion, Corphish seemed less harmed than the others... more or less.

"Yeah, dude," Azelf said. "You got in the party. And you also ruined it."

Corphish managed a weak smirk. "Worth it." His head hit the ground, and he fell unconscious.

**_[7]_**

Azelf looked down to Taillow and crossed his arms. "You got anything to say?"

"I'm busy contemplating my life choices," Taillow said, though his voice was muffled, given that he didn't even bother to raise his head.

"You do that," Azelf sighed. "After the challenge, I expect you guys to clean up this mess."

Taillow moaned.

"Hey, you're lucky you're not facing automatic elimination for this." Azelf used his telekinetic powers to levitate Dunsparce, Shuckle, Munchlax, Hippopotas, Spheal, and Skorupi away from the area as he himself left.

Taillow promptly fainted.

**_[6]_**

With the second night ongoing, the players were finding it hard to keep entertaining themselves. With the duo of Furfrou and Helioptile, only one seemed to have that problem.

"...so, really, I think the best moment in The Empoleon's New Clothes would have to be when human Empoleon and his Abomasnow friend are doing that back to back wall climb that symbolizes their new found bond. What's yours?"

"The part where the annoying Pokemon won't shut up," Furfrou snarled.

Helioptile's tail, which was the only thing visible through the log, straightened up high. "Hey! You could just ask me to stop talking, you know!"

Furfrou snarled. "You should stop on your own."

"Well, sorry, but this is a way that keeps me awake."

"Hmph... Fair enough. I guess it's keeping me awake as well," Furfrou shrugged.

"Listening to my opinions on movies? Golly gee, where's the Furfrou I knew for a day?"

"Don't push it," he growled, glaring intensely. Then, suddenly, something emitting a large CLANK noise hit Furfrou on the back of his head, and he crumpled to the ground, instantly unconscious.

**[9]**

Alarmed, Helioptile raised his head from the log, only to see Magmar holding a metallic trash can lid, standing above Furfrou's form.

Magmar smirked, staring down at Furfrou's body. "Not so tough now, are ya? That's for knockin' me out earlier!"

Helioptile just stared. "Magmar."

Magmar seemed a bit alarmed when he noticed Helioptile was actually there. "Yeah?"

"You just cost our team a point."

"So did he," he sneered.

"Magmar," came another voice from behind him.

The Fire type turned to see a very unhappy Azelf. He snorted flames. "What do you want?"

Azelf glared daggers at him. "We had a rule. If you fall asleep and wake up, you LEAVE the area."

Magmar rolled his eyes. "Yeah, who cares?"

The host gave a borderline evil grin. "You will when I say 'automatic elimination'."

The bravado immediately drained from Magmar's face. Letting out a few mumbled and incoherent words, he bolted away.

Azelf smirked, pleased with himself. He glanced to Helioptile, still smirking. "Wanna say hi to the entire viewing world?"

The lizard let out a meek 'eep', burrowig back down in his log.

Content, Azelf nodded and floated away from the area.

%%%

With bleary eyes and a loud yawn, Zoroark was finding it difficult to stay awake. The boredom was certainly lending to that.

Next to him were Mr. Mime and Floette, the former showing off magic tricks, and the latter being content in watching those tricks.

Mr. Mime had just finished a trick where he made a penny disappear from a folded sheet of paper. He gave an expectant look to Floette. "Well? What do you think?"

"Amazing!" she started clapping furiously, and suddenly, a bright flash emitted from her, only affecting Mr. Mime and Zoroark, since they were the only ones in the proximity.

Zoroark hissed, rubbing his eyes.

Floette widened her eyes. "Oh! Oh my gosh, Zoroark!" She started blinking back the tears that were forming and threatening to flow. "I-I'm so sorry! I..."

Zoroark waved a dismissive hand as his other hand was still pressed up against his eyes. "Don't. I'm fine." He hesitantly removed his other hand, blinking to test his eyes. "On the bright side, I'm not tired anymore."

Mr. Mime gave a chuckle. "'On the bright side'... Was that intentional?"

"You wish," he groaned.

%%%

"Okay, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Are you ready?"

Igglybuff nodded.

Hoppip pulled a cord that suddenly appeared, letting loose confetti that came from who-knew-where. "CATCH IT ALL IN YOUR MOUTH!"

"SIR YES SIR!" Igglybuff saluted, holding a serious expression for a few seconds before dissolving into a giggling fit.

Hoppip pouted. "Come on Igglybuff, you gotta stop giggling if we're gonna be taken seriously as a military troop!"

"Sorry, but it's fun!"

Corsola walked over to the duo. "What's going on?"

Hoppip studied her up and down before narrowing her eyes a bit too dramatically. "Hmm... What do YOU think is going on?"

Corsola shrugged, glancing down at the confetti. "Something fun, I'll bet."

Igglybuff picked up a handful of confetti, turning to Hoppip. "Can we allow Corsola in the troop?"

"Hmm..." Hoppip hummed thoughtfully.

Igglybuff's eyes were wide and pleading. "Pleeease?"

"HMMM..." Hoppip hummed much louder and much longer before she suddenly stopped and said simply, "Yeah, sure."

Igglybuff cheered, throwing confetti in the air and giving Corsola a welcoming hug. "Welcome to the team, new best friend!"

Corsola gave a playful chuckle. "Good to be on the team. Despite the fact that we're already on a team, but whatever makes you guys happy."

Hoppip squeezed herself between the duo. "But now we gotta initiate you."

"Initiate me?" Corsola asked, raising a brow.

Hoppip got down to eye level with the Water type, and she gave the most intimidating of stares. In a tone so low and serious that it definitely didn't sound right coming from her, Hoppip said, "Are you ready?"

Corsola gave an almost determined grin. "Where do we start?"

* * *

**Day 3**  
**48 hours**  
**_[6]_[9]**

"Day three, y'all," Azelf yawned. He pumped his fist in the air with little luster. "Whoopie."

Rotom put down his magazine and raised an eyebrow at Azelf. "You do realize that YOU can sleep, right, Azelf?"

Azelf gave a dismissive handwave. "What's the fun in that?"

Rotom shook his head, but as he returned to his magazine, there was no hiding that almost proud smile he had.

Glancing over to the Pokemon still awake, he asked Rotom, "Hey, how many are left awake?"

"I've been reading the same magazine for two days, Azelf. What makes you think I paid any attention to the campers?"

Azelf just raised an eyebrow.

Rotom gave a melodramatic sigh."The Mesprits have six left; Ampharos, Natu, Venipede, Zoroark, Floette, and Mr. Mime. The Uxies have nine; Lucario, Lilligant, Hoppip, Igglybuff, Corsola, Masquerain, Krokorok, Absol, and Helioptile."

"Fifteen left already?"

"You can thank the dynamic duo for that," Rotom said, referring to Corphish and Taillow.

"How much you wanna bet they get booted if their team loses?"

"Not a betting man, Azelf," Rotom said, returning to his magazine.

Azelf shrugged. "Not like I actually wanna risk losing money anyway."

%%%

Krokorok was bored out of his mind.

It was getting to be even more difficult to stay awake, seeing as how he had nothing else left to do. Who knew carving in trees wouldn't be a long enough activity.

Wanting something, he considered his choices for whom to talk with. It couldn't be someone from the other team, because Lucario would get suspicious again. Speaking of that jackal, he was out of the question, and Lilligant too, by proximity. Igglybuff and Corsola were near Hoppip, and no way was he going near her. Masquerain was obsessed with her play, so she was out. And there's only so much of an antisocial lizard one can take.

That left Absol. He seemed generally okay, despite being a poetry nut. But Krokorok was met with frustrating disappointment when he found the Disaster Pokemon finally asleep.

**[8]**

Fan-tucking-fastic.

He snarled to himself. He was never going to make it with this many Pokemon left. So maybe he had to do some work...

What did Lucario say? No sabotaging the other team?

He felt a mischievous smirk well up.

Fine then. Who was he to not include his own team?

%%%

"Greetings, campers!" Azelf said after rounding the thirteen of them together.

"Uh, we're missing one," Corsola pointed out.

Azelf shrugged. "Masquerain's a bit... obsessed, at the moment. No harm in leaving her be."

"So, what're we doing?" Ampharos asked.

"You, nothing. Me..." He pulled out a large book from behind himself. Smirking, he said, "...Making this challenge even harder for you."

Krokorok smirked. "Gee, Azelf, what's a book going to do to us?"

**%%%**

**Krokorok: Yeah, I gave Azelf the idea. So what? I'm not the one sabotaging them; Azelf's doing that for me!**

**%%%**

"The book, nothing," Azelf said, opening it up to reveal a mountain pop-up. "Me, I'm gonna read it to you all. All eighty-four chapters."

"Eighty... four?" Helioptile squeaked, his tail stiffening straight up in shock.

Azelf gave a delicious smirk. "Eighty-four."

And so, after multiple groans were heard, Azelf began. "Once... upon a time... there lived three boring... and tired... and bored Stantler. They lived in a boring... and tired... and bored house... that was boarded up..."

%%%

It took three hours for Azelf to finally take a break from reading. During the span of three hours, a good chuck of Pokemon had fallen to the monotonous tone.

Venipede had her head shoved through a log, snoring loudly. It was originally used to muffle the sound of Azelf's reading, but she soon discovered that it was actually a comfy place to sleep.

_**[5]**_

Mr. Mime, who had actually found some enjoyment in the reading, started to yawn at the two hour mark. Then, he had suddenly collapsed. Krokorok, who had been situated next to him, smirked and gave an almost taunting yawn.

_**[4]**_

Hoppip hadn't been able to withstand the sheer boringness of the book. The fact that it lacked giant mutant famemongers was the quitting point for her. Igglybuff, who had been practically glued to her new friend, succumbed as well.

**[6]**

Azelf surveyed the group. "Nine left?"

"Including Masquerain," Lucario pointed out.

"So ten. Alright then. What's say we get some food for you guys?"

Almost everyone perked up at that.

"I'll take that as a yes," Azelf said. He turned and yelled out, "BRING IT IN, ROTOM!"

Rotom wheeled in a table with a tarp covering whatever bulky thing was under it.

"Um... What's this?" Helioptile asked, finally having his head poking out.

Azelf grinned. "I figured I might as well treat you guys. So...!" He pulled away the tarp, revealing an entire banquet of steaks and chickens and milk and veggies and brownies. "Bon appetite!"

Ampharos and Krokorok practically bolted for the food, but were pulled back by Natu and Lucario, respectively.

"This could be a trick," Lucario said, eying both Krokorok and Azelf warily.

"I take offense to that," Azelf said, his tone showing no offense to be taken.

"We should eat," Ampharos said hungrily. "We haven't eaten in days, right?"

At that, Azelf gave her a confused glance. "Huh? We fed you, like, twice a day. Right, Rotom?"

Rotom whistled innocently, looking down to the ground.

Azelf frowned. "Duuude..."

"I didn't have time!"

"You had THREE DAYS."

"That magazine was really interesting!"

"Ugh..." The host turned back to the nine campers. "Well, whatever. You have food now, don't you? Dig in!"

Ampharos took that literally and dove into the pile of brownies. Krokorok took a fork to fish up the largest slab of steak there. Floette took her time to drink the glass of milk.

Lucario just eyed the banquet. "I'm not eating that."

Lilligant nodded. "Me neither."

Krokorok sauntered over to the two, mouth red with steak sauce, and he still held half a steak in one hand and a chicken wing in the other. "C'mon, don't be downers."

Lucario just glared.

Krokorok scoffed, and he suddenly stuffed the chicken wing in the jackal's mouth.

Lucario immediately spat it out and gave an even more striking glare to the crocodile.

He shrugged. "What? You gotta be hungry too, right?"

**%%%**

**Krokorok: Honestly, I only did that because Lucario didn't. Reverse psychology, baby!**

**%%%**

Azelf started staring down the wristwatch he somehow had. "And three... two... one!"

Floette gave him a confused look. "What are you talking ab—" She immediately collapsed to the floor.

**_[3]_**

Lucario gave a narrowed gaze to the host. "I knew it..." he muttered, before instantly falling unconscious himself.

**[5]**

Lilligant shrieked, kneeling down to Lucario's body. "Why is he—I don't—Help him, Azelf!"

Azelf gave a dismissive wave. "Don't worry. He was just the unlucky recipient of the Sleep Seeds we put in some of the foods."

She gave a sad glance down to him. "He was right... It was a trick."

"Who'd've thought?" Krokorok shrugged.

**%%%**

**Krokorok: HELL YEAH! (Pumps fist in the air)**

**%%%**

Zoroark glanced down to Floette's sleeping form and leaned on the banquet table. "So the milk and chicken were drugged."

"And the veggies," Azelf added. He pointed to Lilligant. "If Miss Pushover ate that, she'd be sleeping too."

Lilligant frowned, but stayed silent.

"So, I can just keep eating, right?" Ampharos asked, eying the rest of the brownies.

"Sure," Azelf shrugged. As Ampharos devoured the brownies, Azelf announced, "Alright, eight of you left! Can you last?"

"We might if you don't have any more tricks," Helioptile said.

Azelf smirked. "No more tricks. From me, that is."

Before anyone could ask anything, Azelf left with Rotom. And so, the seven of them (Masquerain was still off with her play) sat there, staring each other down.

It was another hour when Lilligant fainted. Seemed like she wasn't able to last long without Lucario.

**[4]**

Krokorok leaned next to Zoroark and yawned. "Who do you think's gonna win?"

Zoroark yawned as well. "Any of us, really," he said a bit apprehensively. "Though I guess—" Suddenly, he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

_**[2]**_

Ampharos fumed. "Okay, what the hell was that?"

Krokorok gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"I mean..." She lifted Zoroark's limp arm. "Nobody falls asleep that quickly, especially when he was hardly tired to begin with!"

He shrugged. "What's your point?"

"You did something to him, didn't you?" It was more of an accusation than a question.

Krokorok smirked, yawning. "Hate to break it to you, but I don't have anyway to put people to sleep, now do I?"

Ampharos opened her mouth to speak, but was suddenly interrupted by Natu. "Stay away from him," she warned.

Ampharos turned to the avian. "What do you mean?"

In an instant, Krokorok rushed up behind Ampharos and... yawned?

"Hey!" she glared, turning to face him. "What are you—" She put her hand over her mouth as she yawned, and froze mid pose. "Oh no..." she said in horrible realization.

Helioptile waddled over next to the Ground type. "Uh, I'm lost here. What's the 'oh no' for?"

Krokorok yawned to him. "Nothing you should worry a—"

Unfortunately, Helioptile collapsed in a heavy sleep.

**[3]**

Krokorok frowned. "Whoops."

Ampharos snarled, using all of her willpower to stay awake against the sudden force that was compelling her to sleep. "You little cheater...! You're using Yawn!"

Krokorok gave a hearty cackle. "So what if I am? There's nothing you can do about—"

A sudden torrent of water propelled itself straight at Krokorok, the force strong enough to knock him straight into a tree. Needless to say, he fainted.

**[2]**

Ampharos and Natu turned to the only remaining player with them: Corsola.

"Did... you do... that...?" Ampharos sleepily asked.

Corsola nodded. "It wouldn't be a fair win if Krokorok kept cheating."

Ampharos gave a tired smirk. "Alri..." She couldn't force herself awake anymore. She fell to the ground, sleeping contently.

_**[1]**_

Natu and Corsola shared a glance.

"One on two..." Natu mused. "May the best man win."

Corsola nodded.

* * *

**Day 4**  
**60 hours**  
**_[1]_[2]**

It was a true battle of willpower. The duo sat in the campfire pit, directly across from each other, neither one succumbing.

Natu had a blank stare on her face, betraying no signs of drowsiness. Corsola, on the other hand, was finding it difficult to keep her eyes open. But she trudged on, refusing to lose.

* * *

**Night 4**  
**84 hours**  
**_[1]_[2]**

Who would've thought that would've lasted through the day?

Those who weren't in the challenge anymore but had woken up some time ago were busy watching the climax from a preferable distance (Azelf made sure of that so the final part wouldn't be interrupted or ruined by anyone else). Azelf himself was sitting off on the sidelines, eager to see the results.

Corsola, however, wasn't so eager. It was getting to be impossible to stay wake. Looking at Natu's near emotionless gaze, she knew that she'd never win at this pace.

So, she stood up, which actually surprised Natu. She started to stumble off.

Azelf seemed confused. "Where are you goin?"

Corsola didn't answer. She continued to drowsily walk to her destination...

%%%

For someone who was working on a play for four days, Masquerain was faring pretty well. Though that might've had something to do with the obsession of finishing that prevented her from noticing how tired she was.

Her eyes widened like a lunatic, she quickened her already fast pace of writing. This was it. She was nearing the final act. She was almost there. Almost...

"Masquerain..." came an almost hoarse voice as someone bumped themselves next to her.

It was like a spell had been broken. For the first time in four days, Masquerain had pried her eyes away from the play. Seeing who it was, she gasped. "Oh my! Corsola?"

She gave a minute nod, and jerked her head back up when she felt it lolling. "Masquerain... you need to win the challenge."

"Challenge?" It took her a moment to realize that the Awakeathon was still going on. "Oh, the Awakeathon. How many are awake? Because there's a set number in the cast list and—"

"They're all asleep," she interrupted. "Everyone except you, me, and Natu."

Masquerain's eyes widened. "What? That can't be possible. I've only been working on this for... two days?"

"Four."

She blanched. "Oh my." Looking down at the play, she repeated, "Oh my."

Corsola's legs suddenly collapsed, unable to support her weight. As she fumbled for the tree stump, Masquerain helped and picked her up to the stump. "Corsola, you're... Arceus, you need to rest."

"Not yet," she said softly, unable to raise her voice any louder. "We need to win this."

"But... how?"

"Read to me." Despite her energy being depleted enough to unable her to speak loudly, that soft phrase held enough certainty and unwavering determination.

Masquerain furrowed her brow. "Won't that be counterproductive?"

Corsola leaned on Masquerain for support. "Just do it... Read, with all your heart and soul. Put everything you've got into it."

It was then that Masquerain realized what Corsola was trying to accomplish. "You're... This is to keep ME awake, isn't it?"

She was only able to manage a minute nod.

Masquerain turned to the play and pursed her lips, trying to decide what to do. Feeling her eyes starting to droop, she immediately made her choice.

"Once upon a time..."

%%%

Those who were watching (which was everyone who fell asleep before the whole party explosion, given that they'd gotten a fair amount of sleep) were starting to cheer for their respective teams.

"You're almost done!" Lampent called out. "You two can do it!"

Furret, in turn, cheered for her team. "Go, Natu!" she hollered, a large smile plastered on her face. The rush of seeing such a climax was exhilirating to her.

"You've got this!" Breloom added.

Rampardos started to rock his fist in the air, cheering loudly.

Kricketune started to sing, but was quickly stopped by a nasty flick in the ear by Mgamar.

Numel shrugged. "Meh."

Azelf teleported in front of the crowd, frowning. "Keep it down!" he hissed.

"Why?" Lampent asked innocently.

Azelf groaned. "You guys are ruining the finale of this challenge!"

Lampent nodded a bit guiltily. "Right. Sorry about that."

Azelf turned to the pit, then back to the others. "Okay, honestly, I don't trust you guys. So...!" He turned up to the sky and started to make a circle using his finger. With a snap of his other hand, the imaginary drawing materialized into a large pinkish dome, hovering over the pit. He lowered his hand quickly, and the dome crashed down, enveloping the three remaining players.

This was good for Corsola, as she had just been about to fall when the quake jolted her awake for a few more precious seconds. This was bad for Natu, though, as the quake broke her concentration for a split second. But that was enough. Her grasp of her emotions slipped, her eyes showed just how tired she was.

The dome blocked out sound from the outside. No sounds from the watchers could penetrate the dome, and yet the remaining three could be heard with their breathing or reading.

It was nearing the end.

%%%

"...Look..."

Masquerain looked down at Corsola in alarm, pausing her reading. "Pardon me?"

Corsola weakly tilted her head to Natu, who was sitting at the other side of the pit. "Her... She's tired..."

"So she is," she hummed, feeling her eyes threatening to close. "Corsola, I really need to keep reading."

A faint nod. "Yeah. You do... You... ..."

"Corsola?"

A faint snore was heard from the Water type.

**[1]**

Masquerain pursed her lips. Glancing up to Natu and seeing the bags under her eyes, she knew that she had a shot, and she knew she had to take it.

"_'Why do we do these things?'" she read in a slightly high voice, noticeably skipping back to a previous scene, reading it with much flair. "'Would that help us? We're... We're never going to win. If we try, we'll die.'_"

Natu's eyes started to droop as Masquerain's did too. Though with Masquerain, what was lost in eyesight was found in emotion, and she read the next deep line with even more dramatic tension.

"_'What could we do instead? If we back out now, we'll never reach our goal.'_"

Natu stumbled on her seat while Masquerain's wings started to flutter erratically.

"_'My god! How can you be so obtuse?'_" The higher voice was back. "_'It doesn't matter what we've done, we can't go any further. I'm sorry, but this is one challenge we'll have to give up on. We can't win...'_"

Both girls started to inch closer and closer to the ground, sleep just a breathe away.

"_'You... you can't win...'_"

...

...

...

...zzz.

"I... just... did." After uttering those three words, Natu finally succumbed seconds after Masquerain.

**_[1]_[0]**  
**_[0]_[0]**

"And we have a winner!" Azelf announced as he telepathically raised the dome, allowing the spectators' cheers to be heard. "The Mystic Mesprits win!"

The Mesprits who were currently awake crowded in and picked Natu up for a victory carry. Not like she'd notice though. While most Uxies were not in the mood for any sort of festivities, those like Lampent and Rampardos made their way to Masquerain and Corsola and carried them to their cabins.

While cheers were abound, there was no denying the feeling of impending doom by the Uxies. And none were ready to face what would come.

* * *

Azelf was prepared to have the elimination that night, but seeing as how half of the team was still knocked out, he decided to postpone it for the next night.

So there wasn't much shock from the only other Pokemon present to see Lucario finally stepping out of the cabin, clutching his head as if he had a headache.

The only other Pokemon there, of course, was Lilligant. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.

He gave a nod. "Headache aside, I'm well."

"That's good to hear," she sighed in relief. "I wish Krokorok didn't do this to you, but we'll get him out. We could convince our team to—"

"No," he said sharply, whipping his head back to Lilligant (an action that agravated his headache even more).

She took a a step back, eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"I refuse to influence anyone's decisions. If they choose to vote him off, fine. If they don't, then they made a mistake. But I'd rather have them make their own mistakes than for me to prevent them. What good would decisions be, then?"

Lucario started off, and Lilligant couldn't bring herself to follow. But after a few steps, he stopped.

Turning his head, he stared her right in the eye. "I won't stop you from doing it if you so choose. Whatever decision you make is yours and yours alone."

And he left, leaving Lilligant to stand in front of the cabin door.

%%%

_(Elimination ceremony)_

The seventeen of them filed in, each one having various degrees of excitement. Those like Hoppip and Igglybuff were ready to bounce when ready. Spheal too, though she was a bit hindered by a comically large cast for a minor external injury at worst. The rest were either way too tired to do anything or didn't really care.

Azelf entered with a platter of poffins. "Uxies, you've gathered—"

"Did we have poffins last time?" Helioptile asked.

"Do you really care, or do you just wanna prolong this?"

"I plead the fifth?"

Azelf shrugged. "Whatever. Most of you guys didn't get any votes. Poffins go to, firstly, Masquerain and Corsola for being total troopers."

The duo gave weak moans as the poffins hit them in their unflinching faces.

"Next, let's give some applause to those like Lilligant, Lampent, Numel, and Helioptile."

They each received theirs with varying degrees of relief.

"Absol, Igglybuff, and Hoppip, you guys did well, take your poffins."

They each received theirs uneventfully.

"Kricketune and Girafarig... seriously, I don't know why you don't have any votes, but whatever."

Kricketune started to sing a melody before the poffin was sent flying into her mouth. Girafarig caught the poffin in her mouth and handed it to her tail, which was the equivilant of dropping it to the ground.

"Spheal, rockin' that cast!"

Spheal grinned as she caught the poffin with the top of her head.

"Rampardos gets one, too, don't worry."

After Rampardos caught his, Azelf regarded the last four with amusement.

"Well, well, well! Lucario, Krokorok, Furfrou and the duck. All guys... is it me, or does it seem like your team thinks guys are useless?"

"No, they're not!" Lilligant said, and she would've risen from her seat had Lampent not put a gentle hand to her shoulder and encouraged her to sit down.

"Whatever," Azelf shrugged. "Lucario, I'm genuinely surprised you have no votes. I was expecting, like, one or something."

Lucario caught his poffin, casting an unnoticed glance to Krokorok.

"And now, you three," he said to Furfrou, Krokorok, and Magmar. "I'm curious; who did you vote for?"

"Magmar," Furfrou grunted.

Krokorok shrugged. "Magmar."

"Furfrou," Magmar huffed. "He got me out of the challenge."

Lampent gave a curious glance to Furfrou. "You did?"

Before Furfrou could even be bothered to reply, Azelf said, "Magmar, luck just isn't on your side. Your vote for Furfrou was the ONLY vote for Furfrou."

After tossing the poffin to the dog, he held up the final one to the bottom two.

"Magmar and Krokorok, both of you have a reason to be here. Krokorok, you used sneaky tactics, though admittedly, they were helpful."

Krokorok smirked.

"Magmar, you are literally the worst Pokemon I've ever met. Seriously, I don't think your parents even like you."

Magmar rolled his eyes. "My parents think I'm awesome, ass hat."

"Is that why your parents added their own footage to your audition tape saying that you were getting too unbearable?"

Magmar seemed alarmed. "What? They love me!"

"Love and like are two different things. On the bright side, they chose to put you in this than military school."

The Fire type glared, though ultimately stayed silent.

"The final poffin of the night goes to..."

...

...

...

...

...

"...Krokorok." Tossing the treat to the croc, Azelf smirked to Magmar. "Pack your bags, Magmar. Your time is up."

"WHAT?!" Magmar shot up from his seat. He turned to the rest of his team. "How could you guys vote for ME?!"

"You annoy me," Furfrou said with a glare.

"ANNOY YOU?!" he shrieked. Snorting flames, he stomped towards the dog. "I'll show YOU annoying!"

Magmar inhaled heavily, though just before he was able to fire a Flamethrower, a sudden torrent of water crashed into him, propelling him straight across the pit, past the Dock of Shame, and right into the Boat of Losers. The boat immediately roared to life and sent Magmar away from the island.

The sixteen of them turned in shock at the source of it. Standing right next to Azelf was Rotom, inhabiting a washing machine. From the look of it, that Hydro Pump must've been powerful.

Azelf just smiled at the team. "That was wonderful, wasn't it wonderful? You're all dismissed!"

He and Rotom left, leaving the Uxies to their own devices. Most of them left, though Lilligant stopped to talk to Lampent.

"What was that back there?" Lilligant asked.

Lampent just shook her head. "I'm not sure just yet. I'll talk to you in the morning, would that be fine?"

"Sure," Lilligant agreed, and the duo left to their cabins, leaving the dreadful feeling of an elimination ceremony behind.

* * *

_(Outside the Mesprit cabins)_

"Does it hurt?"

Shuckle shrugged, though it was difficult given that he was in a cast. "Pretty much, yeah."

"Worth it, though," Dunsparce added. He too was in a cast.

Taillow rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah... Sorry about that." He turned to Corphish, who was standing next to him. "Why did we have dynamite, again?"

Corphish shrugged. "I dunno, Ampharos?"

"Right, that was her idea."

"The slingshot was all mine."

"I know, Corphish."

Skorupi, also in a cast, waddled in front of Hippopotas and Munchlax. Those two were also in a cast. "I dunno what Azelf was thinking. You two totally should've been in that party."

Munchlax nodded. "It was the raddest thing ever." He elbowed Hippopotas and said, "Remember when we ran out of cheese dip?"

"Oof... Don't remind me. That replacement was baaad news."

Skorupi laughed heartily. "Man, that was the craziest party I've ever been to!"

"I wish I was there at the beginning," Corphish sulked. "That would've been so cool."

"And you wouldn't have almost killed us," Hippopotas pointed out. "And almost make us lose."

"But I didn't."

"You would've been on the chopping block. Probably even eliminated."

"Oh, come on. I didn't cause _that_ much damage."

"You knocked out a third of our team!" Hippopotas spluttered.

"So?"

"CORPHISH."

* * *

**Votes:**

**Magmar: (15) Everyone but Lilligant and Lucario**  
**Krokorok: (2) Lilligant and Lucario**

**Eliminated: _Magmar_, Meowstic**

**%%%**

**A/N: AAAAAH THIS TOOK ME FOUR MONTHS TO FINISH I AM SO SORRY**

**This was the longest chapter I've written for ANYTHING. Seriously. I learned two things from writing this. One: Don't write a challenge that serves as character development for thirty-three players. Two: If I'm crazy enough to do that, then don't write 4k of non-challenge character development at the beginning.**

**Okay, okay. Where to begin...**

**Absol has his prophecies, Masquerain's a theater nut, new friendships, new enemies, all that junk.**

**So, we learned something about Magmar, right? ...No, not really. But I did like writing him.**

**NEXT TIME: Episode Three, "Battle Royale": With such a boring last challenge, Azelf decides to pay tribute to the time honored sport of POKEMON BATTLES. Some will win, some will lose, and one will leave and sing the blues.**

**See ya soon!**


	4. Battle Royale

**Hello, hello, hello! If you're reading this, that means you actually got through the obscenely large last chapter! Thanks for stickin' on by!**

**Today's challenge is the equivalent to Dodgebrawl, though we're sticking more to Pokemon roots this time. What're you waiting for? Let's go!**

* * *

_(Uxie's cabin/Girls' side)_

"Really?" Lilligant leaned forward, eyes widening with each word she heard.

Lampent nodded, her attention a bit distracted at her thoughts. "Furfrou convinced me to vote for Magmar because he said Magmar got him out. I guess it's true, but after finding out that Furfrou did the exact same thing, it makes me think how much we can really trust him."

Lilligant nodded. "Yeah. But if anything, he's more trustworthy than Krokorok. He was using Yawn to win!"

"I heard about that. But at least Krokorok was thinking about the good of the team, right? I mean, in comparison, Krokorok or a few from the other team out. Furfrou only got our teammate out."

"It was still a dirty tactic he used," she said, crossing her arms.

"Of course," Lampent nodded.

After a beat of silence, Liligant asked, "So, what do you think today's challenge will be?"

Lampent adopted a thoughtful pose. "Hmm... Honestly, after the last challenge, I don't think we'll even have one today."

As if to prove Lampent wrong, the intercom suddenly blared to life. Despite the PA systems being outside, Azelf's voice could be heard by the duo clear as day. _"Morning, campers! Today, I'd like for all of you to meet outside the Mesprit cabins. We're going on a field trip! Azelf, out!"_

Lampent and Lilligant looked at each other, and the former said, "Let's go, then."

* * *

With Rotom by his side, Azelf seemed even more eager than usual. Standing in front of the thirty-two teens, he said, "Good morning! How's the day going for you guys?"

Masquerain and Corsola gave tired moans, still not fully recuperated from the Awakeathon.

"Great!" Azelf said giddily. "Follow me to your next challenge destination!" He paused for a moment then leaned towards Rotom. "You know where it is, right?"

Rotom raised a brow.

"Come on, they didn't tell me everything about this island!" Azelf whispered hurriedly.

"Why would you think they'd tell _me_?"

"You're the smart one!"

"Yeah, well, _you're_ the host." The Ghost pushed Azelf back in front of the players. "Now do your job!"

Azelf gave some fiery swears under his breathe that were raunchy enough to have the entire scene cut had he spoken any clearer. Putting on a smile for the campers, he said, "Alright, you're all gonna follow me, and we're gonna try to find a larger domed gym. No shame in pointing it out if you see it, none of us knows where it's supposed to be. Ready?"

Numel started to speak, though he was interrupted by Rotom helpfully blarin an air horn.

"Let's roll!" Azelf said, and he lead the campers deeper in the island.

**%%%**

**Numel: A gym means an actually physical challenge. This is gonna suck.**

**%%%**

**Breloom: Okay, a physical challenge. N-Nothing wrong with that. Unless it's boxing... or wrestling... or b-b-battling. (Looks at the camera with a pleading expression) Help me.**

**%%%**

**Zoroark: I can't help but feel that whatever physical challenge we'll have will be more of a team effort than anything. The last two challenges relied on individual effort.**

**%%%**

Thankfully, it took a measly ten minutes, largely due to the fact that a giant domed gymnasium in a forest was a bit hard to miss.

Azelf stood outside the doors, doing a quick headcount before saying, "Alright, you guys ready?"

"LET'S DO THIS." That came from Skorupi, oddly enough.

Azelf just looked at her strangely. "Let's forget I even asked that."

He opened the doors and herded the thirty of them inside. Once that was done, he and Rotom floated inside, and Azelf shut the door slowly, an unsettling clicking noise echoing out.

Breloom gave a nervous chuckle. "Uh, that kiiinda sounds like you locked it."

Azelf gave a polite smile, one that didn't really convey much politeness. "I did."

"...Oh."

Azelf floated in the middle of the gym, turned towards the bleachers and clasped his hands together. "Mesprits, I want you guys to sit on the bleachers to my left. Uxies, you take the right."

Everyone filed to their seats with little complications. Luckily, the Uxies had the foresight to force Rampardos on the lowest seat instead of the top like he wanted. No use in breaking more things than he had to.

Azelf continued his spiel. "You all may have noticed your in a gym. Can you guess what our challenge will be?"

"Please don't let it be dodgeball," Hippopotas moaned.

"It's not dodgeball."

Hippopotas let out a relieved sigh.

**%%%**

**Hippopotas: Thank Arceus... I don't think I could throw any dodgeballs without seriously maiming someone.**

**%%%**

"You'll be battling each other!" Azelf said giddily.

**%%%**

**Hippopotas: Even worse...**

**%%%**

Ampharos pumped a fist in the air. "Alright, old-style battling, one-on-one!"

"Funny you should mention that," Azelf said. "We're not doing one-on-one. We've figured you've had enough individual tasks for the moment."

"Called it," Zoroark shrugged.

"You've heard of double battles, even triple. But today, you'll be facing off in... quintuple battles!" He raised his arms like he was expecting some sort of applause. Frowning, he lowered his arms and said, "What, quintuple too clunky a word?"

The multiple nods were the consensus.

Azelf rolled his eyes and continued. "Okay, well, each team will have three groups of five. Each group must go at least once. No one's getting out of battling today."

Numel groaned, and Furfrou cast him a dark glare.

"Uhm..." Furret raised her hand. "Five times three is fifteen, and we both have sixteen."

Azelf nodded. "Yeah, thanks for asking the conveniently obvious question. If you must know, before you decide your groups, you'll be deciding your trainer. The trainer, to put it bluntly, must give commands to the five Pokemon that would be currently battling. And the best part? The battlers can't do anything unless the trainer tells them to!"

"I'm confused," Spheal said.

"Let me give an example, then! Let's say the Uxies have Helioptile as their trainer, and the battlers are Kricketune, Girafarig, Spheal, Absol, and Rampardos. If a Mesprit were to launch a Thunderbolt at Spheal, Helioptile would have to tell her to dodge, or even counter it with an attack of her own. If Helioptile doesn't give a command, Spheal would be forced to take the brunt of that attack. Get it?"

"Um, sure?" she said. "I don't know why I'm getting hit by lightning, but okay!"

"Terrific. Anyway, you keep battling until one side has all five battlers fainted. The team left standing gets a point. First to three points wins. Any questions?"

"I've got two!" Floette said, raising her hand.

"Go on."

"How will the trainer know our move set?"

"We've got transcripts printed up that also tell the trainer your abilities. Second question?"

"If we go into a fourth or fifth round and everyone has already gone, could we make different groups?" she asked.

"Yes. As soon as everyone has gone, you can make different combinations of battlers." He turned to the others. "Any more questions?"

"Yeah, what about Mega Evolutions?" Ampharos asked. "Any restrictions on those?"

Azelf smirked. "None at all, but good luck trying to do that! We're going by battle rules; specifically, you need your Mega Stone on hand as well as a Pokemon that you share a close bond with to hold any sort of Mega Indicator. Got that?"

She made a tch sound before mumbling, "Alright..."

Kricketune piped up. "Oh, but Azelf, my cousin works at another reality show, and he told me that they can use their Mega Evolutions once with no items whatsoever!"

"Not to mention that this is somewhat convoluted," Mr. Mime added, tilting his hat.

"I'd say blame the producers," Azelf said, "but I actually think this is a good idea! To unlock your deepest potential and to wield that inner power, you're gonna need to pull some weight to get it. We clear?"

"Never mind that this only applies to three of us," Numel smirked, rolling his eyes.

"It could be four if you actually gave a damn about evolution."

Numel seemed a bit shocked, but hid that with a scoff.

Azelf regarded everyone with a grin. "Any more questions?"

A few Pokemon started to raise their hands, but Azelf brought out the air horn and blew it, silencing all questions. Smirking, he said, "Alright, let's begin!"

* * *

_(Mesprits)_

Zoroark leaned against the bleachers. "Who wants to be the trainer?"

Floette seemed a bit confused. "I was thinking you would want to."

He shook his head. "I'm much better at battling. My skills'll be needed on the gym floor."

"By that logic, we'll need someone who can't really battle," Mr. Mime added.

Corphish rolled his eyes. "It can't be me. I'm awesome at battling. Aren't I, Taillow?"

"Awesome enough to blow up the cabin, too."

"Duuude..."

Taillow put a wing over Corphish's non-existent shoulders. "Relax, it's all cool now."

Furret put herself closer to the duo. "I can battle too, and I'm pretty sure Ampharos wouldn't like not being in the action."

Ampharos ruffled the top of Furret's head. "She knows me!"

Natu hopped forward. "I could battle as well. I've certainly trained a fair bit." She glanced over to Breloom. "I think Breloom would do well in a battle as well."

At that, Breloom's face immediately drained. "U-Uh, I-I'm not..."

As Breloom trailed off, Furret piped up. "We shouldn't force him to battle if he doesn't want to."

Natu didn't back down. "Would you rather burden him with the responsibility of leading fifteen others?"

Furret opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't form the words necessary for a rebuttle. Pursing her lips, she looked over to Breloom, silently wondering what he would do.

Breloom cast his gaze to the ground. "I guess... I-I'll battle..."

Hippopotas raised a hoof. "Uh, I'll be the trainer."

Munchlax gasped. "Dude, no! You still got that injury from the explosion!"

"No, I..." He paused, just now realizing he was no longer in his cast. "Hey, I'm not injured anymore. Neither are you."

Munchlax looked down at himself. "Hey, cool!"

"I love television," Shuckle said, putting his shades on.

Venipede stepped in front of the group, an odd grin on her face. "You know, I think we'll need Skorupi as our leader."

"Huh?" Skorupi asked.

Venipede put her nonexistent hand over her nonexistent shoulder. "It's gotta be you. I mean, we need some of your spunk to get us battling as best as we can, right?"

Skorupi scrunched her face in consideration.

"And," Venipede continued, "it'd be insane not to have our strongest guy on the field, right?"

"But I don't want to battle!" Hippopotas said in frustration.

Venipede ignored Hippopotas's protests and turned to the rest of the team. "How about it? Skorupi leads, everyone's happy."

Half of the team turned to Zoroark.

He frowned.

**%%%**

**Zoroark: This isn't good. They see me as the leader of the team. I can't have that big a target on my back. _(He smirks)_ So let's put it on someone else.**

**%%%**

Zoroark elbowed Mr. Mime. "What say you?"

Mr. Mime gave a look of perplexion, but changed that within a moment and looked towards Venipede. "That sounds like a plan," he said, tilting his hat.

Venipede patted Skorupi on the back. "Looks like it's your time to shine."

Skorupi took that as a cue to wrap her tail around Venipede's body, getting her in a bear hug. "You heard her, team! I'm gonna get our team to win!"

Venipede gave a strained grin. "Yeah, sure."

**%%%**

**Venipede: I have absolutely no faith in her. See, if we lose, we can vote off Skorupi as a scapegoat. After all, no one wants to blame themselves for losing.**

**%%%**

The Uxies had their trainer immediately. Once Lilligant suggested Lucario, pretty much the entire team went along with it. The only one who didn't was Krokorok, though Absol and Rampardos kept him from speaking out.

"Are we all in agreement?" Lucario asked as a formality.

Corsola yawned, still not quite recovered from the previous challenge. "Yeah, pretty much."

Lucario swept his gaze across the team. Seeing that no one else had anything to say, he called out to Azelf. "We'll need the transcript now, Azelf."

The host floated over and handed him a sheet of paper. "Have fun!" Azelf said, floating away towards the Mesprits, probably to give them their transcripts.

Lucario scanned the contents of the paper, humming in what could be considered content as he saw each and every move set. "Some of these are really practical."

"Prac-what?" Rampardos asked.

"Smart. Hmm..." He looked over to the other team. "No Fire-types, not too many Grass-types... I believe a Sunny Day team would be a good choice."

"So, how will we actually decide who goes on what team?" Corsola asked.

"It may be easier to decide who _doesn't_ go together. For starters, Lampent and Girafarig. They have two of the same moves."

"Hold up one moment," Masquerain said, leaving for who-knew-where for two seconds before coming back with a notepad and pencil. "I'll keep track of who we decide to be on what team."

Lilligant piped up. "Maybe Absol should be on Lampent's team. Dark-types can combat her Ghost- and Dark-type weaknesses."

Krokorok frowned in annoyance. "Hey, I'm a Dark-type, too. Shouldn't I be on that team?"

"No, because... uh..."

As Lilligant fumbled for a response, Lampent supplied her own answer. "You're part Ground, and we'd be at the mercy of their Water-types."

"All one of them."

Corsola yawned. "He blew up a cabin. That guy's vicious."

Krokorok rolled his eyes, but he still stayed silent.

"We might as well add Numel, Lilligant, and Hoppip to those two, finalizing our first team," Lucario said.

Numel frowned. "Do you really need another Fire-type?"

Lucario glanced over to Lampent. Getting a shake of the head from her, he addressed Numel. "We need our two Fire-types if we're going to use the Sunny Day strategy."

"And me?" Lilligant asked a bit hesitantly.

He gave her an even gaze. "I think you know why."

She nodded, smiling slightly.

Masquerain scribbled it down in her notepad. "Absol, Numel, Lampent, Lilligant, and Hoppip. That's team one. So we have me, Corsola, Rampardos, Krokorok, Girafarig, Kricketune, Spheal, Furfrou, Helioptile, and Igglybuff."

"Krokorok and Rampardos both have strength," Corsola reasoned. "So they should be on separate teams."

"And Helioptile could cover for his Water weakness," Lampent added, then frowned. "But they both have a Fighting weakness... and Rampardos... and Furfrou... and Spheal and Corsola. Why does our team have a common weakness?"

Lilligant glanced over to the other team. "The only Fighting-type on their team is Breloom, and he's part Grass."

"So Princess here's with me," Krokorok shrugged, pointing to Masquerain.

Masquerain stiffened, though it was hard to tell, seeing as how she was flying and all. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

Corsola intercepted the two before Masquerain could go on a tangent. "Masquerain, you're Bug and Flying. He's Dark and Ground. You can take on his Grass and Fighting weaknesses, and he can take on your Fire, Electric, and Rock weaknesses... well, they don't have any Fire-types on their team, but you get what I mean."

Krokorok gave a sort of coy smirk. "Yeah, that's exactly it."

Masquerain huffed, though ultimated agreed. "Fine... But don't call me 'Princess'."

He put his hands up in mock-defense. "Whatever you say, your highness."

**%%%**

**Krokorok: _(He smirks)_ Looks like I found a new toy to mess with.**

**%%%**

She looks away from him, scribbling in the notepad. "Masquerain and... _Krokorok_," she said, forcing herself to say his name. She glanced to Corsola. "My team?"

Corsola shrugged. "Sure. If we're gonna be crushed by any Fighting-type moves, might as well do it in style."

Masquerain glanced over to Lucario for confirmation. He nodded, and she wrote in Corsola's name.

Lucario glanced over to Helioptile and Furfrou. "You two would best fit this team."

Helioptile nodded while Furfrou shrugged.

"That leaves Rampardos, Girafarig, Spheal, Kricketune, and Igglybuff," Lucario finished. "Any objections?"

"Miiight be putting too much faith in Rampardos," Numel noted. "You have the toughest guy on the team with four of the most... let's say 'non-battle oriented' girls."

Lucario gave him an even look. "Sometimes things are more than they appear, you know."

"Well, duh," he said, rolling his eyes. "I don't need an inspirational quote, you know. It just seems like an odd match up; you've got your powerhouse with four of least important Pokemon on his team."

Girafarig looked at her tail. "We're important, aren't we? ...Oh, ha ha, real funny."

Numel raised his brow at Lucario, the expression saying, _'Case in point'_.

Lilligant frowned. "Lucario has a plan." She glanced to the jackal for confirmation.

"This is the best choice," Lucario said cryptically. "As far as I can tell, at any rate."

Numel scoffed, but didn't press the issue any further.

Masquerain finished writing in her notepad. "We have Absol, Lampent, Lilligant, Numel, and Hoppip on one team. Krokorok, Corsola, Furfrou, Helioptile and I on the second team. The last team has Rampardos, Kricketune, Girafarig, Spheal, and Igglybuff. Anything else?"

"We're boned," Numel sighed.

Krokorok gave a somewhat dramatic moan. "Yeah, this set up sucks. The other team probably picked something better."

* * *

"You five, then you five, then you five," Skorupi said, pointing to random spots at the rest of the Mesprits.

Hippopotas cleared his throat. "Uh, can you give names?"

"Fiiine," she moaned. "Ampharos, Furret, Breloom, Taillow and Corphish, you guys are one team. Hippopotas, Venipede, Munchlax, Dunsparce, Shuckle, team two. And Zoroark, Mr. Mime, Floette, Natu and Inkay are the last team. Got it?"

"Wait... Did you group us up with our friends?" Floette asked.

"Your point?"

"That's not very... I dunno, strategic?"

"Did you even look at our move sets?" Zoroark asked.

"Of course I did!" Skorupi gasped. "The set up makes perfect sense, even from a battle standpoint!"

"We're horribly crippled against Bug types," Mr. Mime noted. "The three of us, you know." He was referring to himself, Zoroark, and Inkay.

"Flying-types are gonna cream us!" Hippopotas pouted.

"I'm pretty fine with our team," Corphish said. The other four nodded in agreement.

"Well, too bad!" Skorupi said. "I'm the trainer, what I say goes!"

"Can you just smell the mutiny?" Venipede chuckled.

Skorupi's face softened after hearing Venipede's mocking words. "I know what I'm doing, guys. This set up will work, I promise!"

Everyone gave halfhearted moans, though ultimately let the teams stay how they are.

Azelf blared his airhorn. "Trainers, please come to the middle!"

Skorupi hopped down and skittered over to the edge of the left side of the field. Lucario calmly made his way to the right edge. Azelf stood within the middle, a circle painted on the floor to signify that this was indeed the middle.

Azelf held a coin in his hands. Looking at Lucario, he said, "Call it."

"Tails."

Azelf flipped the coin in the air, and it hit the ground with a continuous clinking sound. It came up heads.

"Skorupi, choose your team," the host said.

"The party gang!" she exclaimed.

Venipede glared. "I want no part in the name 'Party Gang'."

"Dunsparce's Disco Dudes!" Skorupi said, as if that were any better. "...Trademarked," she added as an afterthought.

As the five Mesprits got onto the gym floor, Azelf turned to Lucario. "And you?"

Lucario surveyed the enemy team, determining which team would be the most preferable to use. Finally, he turned to the rest of his team, beckoning for Krokorok, Corsola, Masquerain, Helioptile, and Furfrou.

"Those guys, huh?" Azelf said as the five of them walked over. He floated towards his lifeguard chair situated between the bleachers, with Rotom seated next to him in a baby lifeguard chair. Situated at the farthest ends of the gym were podiums, large enough so each trainer could overlook their entire team, as well as the enemy team.

Azelf made a 'come hither' motion towards Skorupi. "Skorupi, my left. Lucario, my right. You both should be able to see the entire field from these vantage points."

As each of them took their positions, Azelf took out a megaphone. "Alright guys!" his voice blared. "Any part within the boundaries is fair game. Go anywhere you want within it; you're not limited to your side. Are you ready?"

On the Mesprits's side, Dunsparce and Shuckle seemed ready to go. Munchlax had the same level of enthusiasm, but his wasn't as much determination. Venipede scowled, while Hippopotas seemed extremely uncomfortable.

For the Uxies, Krokorok smirked, cracked his knuckles. Masquerain seemed ready, though it was clear that determination for battle was a pretty alien concept to her, as she seemed unsure how to convey it. Corsola gave a slight smirk, not as noticeable as Krokorok's. Furfrou gave a grumpy glare at... well, pretty much everyone. Helioptile was fidgetting in place.

Skorupi was confident, while Lucario took an almost prideful stance, his gaze hardening.

Azelf took out his air horn and blew it. "GO!"

Immediately, Lucario said, "Krokorok, Fire Fang, Shuckle!"

It was so sudden that Skorupi couldn't counterattack immediately. Fortunately for her, Krokorok took a moment to realize he was being called first. As he lunged for Shuckle, Skorupi shot out, "Dodge!" just in time.

Shuckle lunged to the side while Krokorok skidded to a stop.

"Keeping using Fire Fang until I say otherwise," Lucario ordered.

Krokorok gave an almost evil smirk at Shuckle, as if he couldn't wait to feast on some turtle.

"Keep dodging!" Skorupi yelled.

"Sure!" Shuckle said as he dodged another attempt from Krokorok.

They kept doing that for a while until Krokorok managed to sink his teeth in Shuckle's neck, the latter groaning in pain.

Lucario barked down to Furfrou, "Cotton Guard, twice!"

Furfrou nodded, using his mouth to fluff up any fur he could reach. How fluffy fur could help his defense, no one knew, but it seemed to be working.

Skorupi yelled, "Dunsparce, Defense Curl! Venipede, Poison Jab Krokorok!"

Venipede moved with surprising speed. She'd managed to jab Krokorok with the two barbs on her head before Lucario yelled out, "Fire Fang Venipede!"

Krokorok hissed in pain as Venipede started off. Unfortunately, Krokorok was resilient, so he recuperated fast enough to intercept her and chomp down right on her tail.

She hissed in pain, trying to wriggle from his grasp. But Krokorok had jaws of some sort of water reptile, and he refused to release her.

"NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME FOR AN ATTACK," Venipede cried out.

"Right! Poison Jab!"

Venipede gave a pained smirk as the two barbs on her head leaked poison once again. She jabbed Krokorok right in the eyes.

He hissed, his jaw loosening as he grasped his eyes in pain, to which Venipede jumped out.

Krokorok stumbled back, his back hunched as his eyes stayed shut. He was panting heavily and his body started trembling.

Venipede gave a triumphant smirk. "How's that poison doing for you?"

"Ice Beam!"

Venipede's smirk disappeared in confusion, though that was short lived as soon as two rays of ice shot themselves towards Venipede. The force was enough to propel her directly into the podium.

From the Uxies's side, Corsola and Masquerain gave triumphant smiles.

Skorupi gasped, leaning over to see Venipede. "Oh my god! Are you alright?"

Venipede slowly peeled off from the podium, dropping to the ground. Her incoherent mumbles made evident that she was fainted. There was a large, Veipede-shaped crack on the podium.

Skorupi looked up to Azelf. "That wasn't fair!"

Azelf shrugged. "They both knew Ice Beam, so thy both had to use it. Never said he had to specify."

Skorupi glared at Azelf before turning back to the field, her game face now on. "Dunsparce, Headbutt Krokorok!"

Dunsparce finished his third Defense Curl and started to slither over to Krokorok, who was still writhing in pain.

Seeing that he was easy pickings, Lucario yelled, "Fire Fang!"

But Krokorok was in too much pain to do anything, and he was left at the mercy of Dunsparce's Headbutt. The croc collasped to the ground, fainted. His body still spasmed from the poison.

"Uh, Azelf?" asked Rampardos. "Can you heal Krokorok's poisoning?"

Azelf gave a dismissive wave. "It's mild poisoning; since he fainted, it'll seep from his system in two minutes." He telekinetically levitated both Venipede and Krokorok to the bleachers. "Four all, guys!"

Dunsparce glanced up to Skorupi. "Hey, you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Rollout on Masquerain?"

He nodded.

"Do that."

Masquerain, hearing this, frowned. "Excuse me?"

Dunsparce twisted himself into the air, biting down on his tail. Falling down, he was already starting to shoot himself forward like a wheel.

"Ominous Wind! Slow him down!" Lucario ordered.

Masquerain whipped her antennae, unleashing forth a dark purple wind, containing all feelings of uneasiness and foreboding.

The wind intercepted Dunsparce, causing him to slow down as he tried fighting against the air. It kept going like this for twenty seconds; Masquerain trying to keep him away, Dunsparce trying to break through.

Lucario grit his teeth before turning to Helioptile. "Helioptile! Shoot the weakest Energy Ball at Masquerain you can use!"

"_WHAT_," Masquerain managed to say.

Helioptile, not wanting to bring any extra attention by denying the request, nodded and flicked a small green energy sphere, no larger than marble. It hit Masquerain right in the forehead.

Lucario yelled out, "Roost!"

Masquerain gasped in realization. She stopped the Ominous Wind and shook off feather from her antennae (how they were there on a bug was anyone's guess), right before Dunsparce shot in the air and nailed her right in the body. She crashed to the ground.

Corsola gasped. "Oh, Arceus. Masquerain!"

Dunsparce slithered back to his side, looking back to see the results.

From the bleachers, Igglybuff gasped. "Uh oh... is she okay?"

Absol bowed his head. "A Rollout like that on a Bug/Flying-type is too brutal for most Pokemon."

Igglybuff looked over to Absol. "But the first Rollout shouldn't be so strong, should it?"

"Those Defense Curls weren't for nothing. Most Pokemon don't know this, but that move can strengthen a Rollout. Even though it was the weakest one he could use, the fact that he got her in one hit means he could do much worse."

Azelf shrugged. "Well, looks like—"

A moaning sound drew everyone's attention to the Uxie's side of the field. Masquerain's body start to shudder slightly until her wings started to twitch.

Numel, overlooking this turn of events, made a hum of slight admiration. "Huh. Smart."

Masquerain started to hover from the ground, her head still bowwed. She rose up three inches. Six inches. Two feet. Four. At that point, she raised her head, her face twisted in pain, though covered by a will to stay standing.

"I don't get it," Hoppip said.

Numel scoffed. "Of course you don't. Roost replaces one's Flying-type with Normal. So when she got hit, she was Bug and Normal, and only got hit with double damage."

"So, why did Helioptile attack her?"

"She couldn't have full energy, or it wouldn't have worked."

"Oh. Smaaaart."

"Mmhmm. Now shut up and watch the battle."

On the field, the Uxies stood ready for anything. The Mesprits seemed a bit wavered by this determination.

Lucario shot out his hand, pointing to Dunsparce. "Ice Beam, Energy Ball, Zen Headbutt!"

Corsola and Masquerain fired off two rays of ice. Helioptile opened his mouth and shot out a green energy sphere. As each one hit Dunsparce, and as each one made him step back each time, he had no time to recuperated once Furfrou lunged his head straight towards the serpent.

Dunsparce mumbled a few words before collapsing to the ground.

As Azelf lifted Dunsparce away, Skorupi groaned. "UGGH. Okay, Hippopotas, Earthquake!"

"Do I have to?!" Hippopotas whined.

"Yes! Use—"

"Ice Beam!"

Corsola and Masquerain shot the ice at Hippopotas at Lucario's command. He didn't stand a chance.

Azelf levitated Hippopotas's fainted form away. "Four to two. Get smart, Mesprits."

Skorupi growled under her breathe. "Shuckle, Gyro Ball!"

Shuckle retreated into his shell and started to spin, accelerating faster and faster and... then started to slow?

He came to a halt, and silence reigned in for an awkward moment.

Azelf made a time out gesture as he went onto the field. He picked up Shuckle's shell and peered inside. "Well, looks like Shuckle's fainted."

"What?! How?!" Skorupi yelled.

Azelf pulled out Shuckle's head, revealing his eyes to be swirls as he bobbed limpedly. Pointing to a burned bite mark on his neck, Azelf said, "There's your problem. The poor dude was burned the entire time."

Skorupi's jaw dropped. "So I'm stuck with one player left?"

"Yup." He brought Shuckle to the bleachers, then went back to his chair. "Continue the game!"

Munchlax gulped, seeing the four opponents antsy to beat him, but he mustered up enough courage to emulate a determined stance.

**%%%**

**Munchlax: If there's one thing I learned from all those years of being picked last in sports, it's that you gotta give it your all 'til it ends! LET'S DO THIS!**

**%%%**

"Alright, Munchlax, use Metronome!"

"GOT IT." Munchlax raised his hands in the air and waggled his fingers. As soon as he stopped, his hands started to glow white, until...

He suddenly hopped to the side, his expressing of confidence frozen on his face.

The Uxies just stared until Corsola cleared her throat. "Splash, huh... Uh, yeah, how about we just freeze you, and we'll call it a day."

Munchlax frantically shook his head. "No! Let me try again!"

"Metronome?" Skorupi said, a bit unsurely.

Munchlax waggled his fingers faster until they glowed. Once they did, Corsola winced slightly.

She looked down to her leg, seeing a small scratch mark. "Scratch?"

Munchlax groaned in frustration. "NO! AGAIN!"

Skorupi sighed. "Metronome."

Waggling his fingers even faster, as soon as it turned white... nothing happened?

Munchlax, panting, grinned. "H-Ha! If it's taking this long, it must be really strong! Ha ha! Ha! ...Ha..."

He collapsed to the ground.

Masquerain frowned. "Was that even a mo... oh dear." Her flying started to become unstable, becoming hard to stay afloat. "I'm awfully tired... Was that Memento?"

Azelf smirked, levitating Munchlax to the bleachers. "Yes it was. Take a break, you guys, the Uxies have the first point."

The Uxies cheered while the Mesprits groaned.

"Lucario, you pick the team next."

Lucaio pointed to Rampardos almost immediately.

Azelf shrugged. "Well, alright. Rampardos and whoever's with him, get on up there."

Rampardos gave a confident grin as he stood up tall. "Don't worry guys. I can do this!"

"We'll see," Furfrou growled as he and his group walked back to the bleachers.

Rampards shrugged, and he, Kricketune, Girafarig, Igglybuff, and Spheal went down to the field.

"And Skorupi?" asked Azelf.

Skorupi pointed to Mr. Mime. "Those guys."

"'Those guys', get over there."

Mr. Mime, Natu and Inkay went down to the floor. Floette started down, but Zoroark stopped her to whisper something in her ear before she joined the others.

Zoroark walked behind Skorupi's podium and poked her for her attention. She leaned down, and he started whispering in her ear, her feature brightening as he continued. Once he finished, she nodded in agreement, and he joined the other four on the floor.

Rampardos stood at the edge of his side, prepped for battle. Igglybuff stood next to Spheal, their positivities rubbing off on each other. Girafarig was in an intense discussion with her tail, while Kricketune gave a wave to the other side, saying, "Good luck, other team!"

Mr. Mime tilted his hat to the opposing team. Floette gave a ready grin (which seemed a bit more determined than usual for her). Natu betrayed no emotions. Inkay giggled. Zoroark, oddly enough, was no where to be seen.

Azelf raised his hands in the air. "Begin!"

Lucario immediately barked his order. "Rampardos, Head Smash on Mr. Mime!"

Rampardos sprinted forward, his feet pounding the entire gymnasium as he made his way towards Mr. Mime, the gap between them quickly shortening.

Mr. Mime glanced towards Skorupi, hoping that she'd give an order fast enough.

"Mr. Mime, Psy—"

She wasn't fast enough. Rampardos gave a fierce strike right at Mr. Mime's torso, the latter having the wind knocked out of his lungs. The force was enough to send Mr. Mime breaking through the glass dome and flown away from the gym altogether.

There was a long, grueling, deafening silence as everyone stared at Rampardos, agape jaws definitely not uncommon. The Rock-type looked at his team on the bleachers, smiled and shrugged.

Azelf finally broke the silence. "Five to four, I guess."

Skorupi fumbled for a command. "Oh man. Uh, Floette, do... a thing."

Floette clutched her flower and made her way towards Rampardos, giving him an innocent smile. It was quite a jarring image; she barely made it above his toes, while he had to bend his neck seriously down just to see her.

Lucario didn't give Rampardos a command. All he did was look at the match up, watching... waiting...

Rampardos frowned. "Aw man, I can't hit a girl..."

Skorupi gave a grin, the plan working so far. "Foul Play!"

Floette's face immediately twisted into that of a sort of vicious smirk, and she jumped up into the air with lightning speed. Once she made it to Rampardos's shoulders, she grabbed his arm and made him punch his stomach.

He gasped, winded. He stumbled back two steps, though Floette had already returned to the ground, going behind his legs. She stretched her flower out, and it was somehow durable enough to trip him.

The Rock-type fell to the ground, might crash ringing throughout the gym. His mumbled moans were enough a tell to know he was in no condition for any more battling.

Floette snickered, though it sounded a lot deeper than any feminine laughter. 'She' jumped in the air, twisted, and spontaneous grew five feet as 'Floette' turned back into Zoroark.

The real Floette revealed herself from behind Inkay, winking to Zoroark.

The Mesprits on the bleachers cheered and Zoroark gave a devilish smirk to the four remaining Uxies.

**%%%**

**Zoroark: I'm guaranteed safety at this point. Even if we lose, no one's going to vote off the guy who took down the giant Rampardos.**

**%%%**

Krokorok groaned, now awake but seriously tired and clutching his stomach. "How the hell did he do that?"

Masquerain yawned, though she looked at this turn of events with fascination. "His ability is Illusion, I believe. He made himself look like the weakest player to trip up Rampardos that much more, not to mention how Foul Play uses one's own strength against them."

Krokorok furrowed his brow, not entirely understanding. "What, Rampardos is actually strong?"

She hummed, nodding. "I've heard his species has amazing power, though they usually have mediocre defenses. Can you imagine a ten-ton anvil falling on a glass cannon at terminal velocity? It's pretty much on par with that."

"...What the hell is 'terminal velocity'?"

Masquerain just stared at him. "It's not that difficult a concept. It's the maximum speed one can go when falling."

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the science lesson, that's really relevant."

She huffed, turned her attention back to the field, muttering, "You asked..."

Azelf tapped Rotom's head, since the latter sat at a lower level. "I love these kids. They'll give any explanation that the audience might need."

Rotom shrugged. "It's drawing away from the battle, though."

"The battle..." Azelf started before he recalled that a battle was indeed happening. "Oh, right! Four all!"

Lucario called out, "Igglybuff, Spheal, Defense Curl as much as you can!"

The duo of plush Pokemon started curling up.

Skorupi gasped. "I know what they're doing! Zoroark, Night Slash them! Give them no opportunities!"

Zoroark bolted forward, sliding out his arms to reveal the elongated claws glowing a sinister purple aura.

"Kricketune, X-Scissor!"

Kricketune fluttered in front of Zoroark's path, causing him to slow to a stop. His hands were still poised for a Night Slash.

Kricketune gave a curtsy. "I hope this is as painless for you as possible."

Despite keeping a neutral face, Zoroark internally scowled. If he had it his way, he'd have attacked her already. His body was growing antsy from not taking any action.

Kricketune sliced her arms together, the sound of a violin string snapping ringing in his ears. Before he could do anything, Kricketune swiped both arms at Zoroark, sending him rocketing past his team and straight into the wall.

Skorupi gasped, leaning over to get a view of Zoroark. "Zoroark! Tell me you're not fainted!"

"Ngh..." he groaned, struggling to stand. He managed to support himself on one hand and one knee, but that was as far as he could manage. He winced, the strain of doing just hat being unbearable.

Azelf shook his head. "If you can't stand, you can't fight."

He raised his head, his shoulders shaking. "Ghh... I can..." Not even his hands could support him at this point, and he fell to the ground.

Azelf shrugged. "Well, Zoroark's out." He leaned back against his seat, waving his hand to signal for the battle to continue.

"Aren't you gonna take him to the bleachers?" Skorupi asked.

"See, he's a pure Dark-type, and for a legendary like me, it takes more effort to use any sort of telekinesis on him than other types successfully," Azelf explained.

"But you got Krokorok, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but he's only PART Dark, and he was poisoned. Psychic trumps Poison."

Skorupi frowned. "I don't think it works that way."

"Apparently, it does."

From the bleachers, Numel yelled out, "You know, there's a thing called _CARRYING HIM_."

Azelf gave the camel a blank look. "Dude. No."

Rotom sighed, floating down to pick up Zoroark, and he brought him to the bleachers.

As Rotom returned to his seat, Azelf groaned. "Thanks a lot, dude. Now I don't have anymore banter."

"Good, because we have a challenge."

"The challenge, what..." he murmured before his eyes widened in realization. "The challenge, right! Man, I gotta stop forgetting about it. Three to four, guys! Continue!"

**%%%**

**Zoroark: _(He's clutching his stomach.)_ I got beat by a singing slicer. Embarrassing. _(He sighs.)_ At least I'm guaranteed to stay, since I still beat the biggest threat. (He stands to leave, but winces as he tries to move.) Ggh...**

**%%%**

Lucario immediately gave out an order. "Girafarig, use Psychic on Natu!"

Skorupi fumbled for a counter command. "Natu, uh, Ominous..."

As it turned out, Girafarig didn't even bother to attack. She was too engrossed with her conversation with her tail. "Come on, that wouldn't work!"

The tail stayed silent.

For some reason, Girafarig thought there was an actual response. "I told you, you can't hook up Dunsparce with Masquerain! She's way out of his league!"

There was an awkward moment of silence.

Dunsparce winked mischievously to Masquerain. "What can I say? All the best ladies are in a league of their own."

Masquerain shuddered.

Back on the field, Skorupi commanded, "Yeah, Natu, just use Heat Wave on her."

Natu hopped in front of the unaware Girafarig and started to flap her wings, somehow generating an obscene amount of heat. It blasted Girafarig on all sides, and by the time she even noticed it, she fainted from heat stroke, except it wasn't heat stroke at all.

"Three all!" Azelf said, levitating Girafarig back to the bleachers.

Lucario leaned over to see Igglybuff and Spheal. "How much have you guys Defense Curled?"

They were completely curled up, so much so that they could've imploded somehow, except that was really ridiculous. By the looks of it, they couldn't hear what Lucario had asked.

"Kricketune, Perish Song!"

Pretty much everyone, on field or on bleachers, gasped.

"Are you INSANE?" Krokorok glared.

Lilligant smiled widely at Lucario's decision. "No, he's BRILLIANT!"

Venipede cried out to Skorupi, "Plug their ears, quick!"

"Those aren't moves!"

"Plug _her_ up!" Venipede glared.

Skorupi turned back to the field, yelling, "Natu, Heat Wave! Inkay, Psybeam! Floette, Dazzling Gleam! Don't let her sing!"

All three of them rushed forward, but that time Skorupi had spent talking was more than enough for the music maker. Once the trio had made it halfway, Kricketune belted out a melody that sounded beautiful on the surface, but was a thin veil for the true feelings of hopelessness and despair that made the three Mesprits slow to a stop, and made then collapse to the floor afterward.

Skorupi moaned, bashing her head on the podium surface.

Azelf took out his earmuffs that he somehow put in. "And in a quick turn of events, the Uxies have secured their second point!" He levitated Natu, Inkay, and Floette back to the bleachers. As Kricketune skipped merrily back to her bleachers (giving a wave and saying, "It was a fun battle!"), Azelf levitated Igglybuff and Spheal, shook them so they'd snap out of their adorable curls, and put them on their bleachers.

"Now that the field is clear, the third team's gotta go up and fight!" Azelf said giddily.

"No, not yet." Zoroark coughed, steadying himself. "Time out."

The host frowned. "We need to get things go—"

"Do you really want us losing by a land side?" Zoroark challenged.

"...Fine. Five minutes, not a second more."

Zoroark nodded, and then he turned to the podium. "Skorupi..." He beckoned to her with a finger. "Come here."

* * *

"You can't be our trainer anymore," Zoroark said immediately as Skorupi made it to the bleachers.

"What?!"

Venipede gave an irritated look to the Dark type. "I agree. What? And also why?"

"She gives orders too slowly and too sloppily," Zoroark said, shaking his head.

"Well, yeah, but do you really expect me to be better than Lucario?" asked Skorupi.

"You also chose teams with no strategic thought whatsoever."

Skorupi huffed. "I'm better at battling, alright?"

"Then do it."

Skorupi frowned, confused. "What?"

"One of us can switch with you as the leader," he explained. "At least that way, we'll have a fighting chance."

A large hand clasped on Zoroark's shoulder. Azelf leaned his head in so that he was right next to his head. "You do realize it's not cool to decide things like this without my permission, don't you."

Zoroark gave him an even glance. "Then give us permission. And let go of my shoulder, because it's still really sore and you're putting me in excruciating pain."

Azelf released his hand and floated in front of the group. "You want permission? Fine. But you can only switch with someone who hasn't battled yet."

"But—" Skorupi started before immediately being cut off by Azelf.

"No, no buts. It wouldn't be fair if you switched with someone who already battled. That'd just give you a pass from the challenge altogether. If you're gonna be switched, then the third lineup better have you duking it out. Capiche?"

"Roger!" Skorupi said in determination.

Azelf nodded, and then he turned to the group of Ampharos, Breloom, Corphish, Furret, and Taillow. "Who's it gonna be?"

Corphish shrugged. "Like I said, I gotta battle."

"Me too," Ampharos said. "If I'm not on the field, we're pretty much losing for sure."

Taillow shrugged. "I guess I can be the tra—"

"Wait."

All eyes turned to Furret, and she had to force down the nervousness she felt from the sudden attention. "Maybe... Maybe Breloom can be the trainer."

"Yes!" Breloom said immediately. Clearing his throat, he continued. "Uh, I mean, yeah, I'm good with that."

Natu shook her head. "Would this really be a good idea?"

Before anyone could answer her, Azelf sounded out an air horn. "Time's up! Get on the field!"

Corphish groaned. "Screw it, Breloom can lead. Now LET'S DO THIS!" He charged down to the field, Ampharos, Taillow, and Skorupi right on his heels.

As Furret headed down to the gym floor, Breloom stopped her and stammered, "Hey, uh... Thanks."

She smiled. "No problem."

**%%%**

**Breloom: Furret really helped me out. I don't think I could've been able to... b-battle. I really owe her.**

**%%%**

Each team got themselves readied on their sides. The Mesprits had Ampharos, Corphish, and Skorupi determined as ever. Taillow was flapping in the air, though he must've remembered something, for he flew towards Breloom on the podium and whispered in his ear. Once Breloom whispered something back, Taillow flew back to the field, content. Furret gave an odd look at the exchange, but she focused on Breloom and gave him a reassuring smile.

For the Uxies, Lilligant and Lampent stood side by side, looking ready as ever. Absol stood neutrally, his body language revealing no signs of readiness. Numel gave a bored look, and Hoppip started cracking her tiny knuckles. Then she twisted her head and cracked it. Then she bent the leaves on her head and somehow cracked those, too.

Breloom fidgetted in the podium, a bit unsure of this position. Lucario stood, analyzing the battlegrounds.

Azelf pressed the air horn, calling out, "BEGIN!"

"Hoppip, Sunny Day!" Lucario commanded.

Hoppip floated up to the top of the clear dome. Looking up to the cloudy sky, she started rambling. "Hiya sun how you doing hey those clouds are blocking you why don't you just fight them off like rawr show 'em who's boss!"

Nothing happened for a long, grueling moment.

Numel scoffed. "Newsflash, nutsy; weather doesn't work like—"

As if to prove Numel wrong, a faint rumbling sound could be heard from up above. The clouds, which had been clumped together in a thick vapor, shuddered and immediately dispersed. A giant, brightly shining sun took their place.

Some could've sworn the sun actually winked.

Hoppip floated back down, grinning at Lucario. "Sun's bright and eager to help!"

"_How,_" Numel said flatly, but no one really cared what he had to say about it.

Corphish paled a bit. "Aw man, this'll suck for me."

"Not for me!" Ampharos grinned, raising a fist. She glanced back to Breloom. "Just say the word and I can take out those two Grassies."

But Breloom paid no attention to her. He was feverishly looking over the move set transcript, visibly panicking.

Lucario, on the other hand, was more than ready. "Numel, Flamethrower on Ampharos!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Numel muttered. Planting his hooves firmly on the ground, he inhaled deeply, preparing to fire a blast of fire.

Ampharos's smirk froze, her eyes staring down the camel nervously. "Any time now, Breloom," she said through gritted teeth.

Breloom started stammering, his gaze repeatedly shifting from the field to the transcript.

As Numel was pretty much finished inhaling, Ampharos said urgently, "Just say Fire Punch, oh my god, it's just two words, _just say it._"

"Uh, F-Fire—"

Too little, too late. A path of fire escaped Numel's mouth and burst on and past Ampharos. When that subsided, her entire body was left completely ashened, her eyes wide with an undetermined expression.

Furret gasped. "Ampharos, are you—"

The Electric type coughed out a puff of smoke. "Just peachy," she said through a strained voice.

Azelf called out, "Can you still move?"

It took a bit of effort, but Ampharos pried her body from its tableau and spun around. "Yeah, I got this." She turned to Breloom. "How about we actually start battling now?"

"Gladly!" Hoppip called out. She turned to Lucario. "Let's whoop these guys, alright?"

Lucario's gaze was fixated on Breloom, the latter looking to be on the verge of a panic attack. "You know..." he said, loud enough to where his voice could reach Breloom. "A curbstomp win wouldn't be as satisfactory to me."

On the bleachers, Krokorok snorted. "It would to me." Then he puked the last of the toxin from the edge of the top step.

Breloom wrung his arms together, completely wrecked down.

Lucario sighed. "Energy Balls, Night Slash, Flamethrower, Bounce. Hit them with all you've got."

Lampent frowned up at him. "But we're not going to use the sun to our full advantage."

"No point. Attack."

Lilligant and Lampent brought their arms together for double Energy Balls. Absol's head bland glowed a dark aura. Numel inhaled once again. Hoppip started bouncing up and down, gaining momentum. To those on the bleachers, it was an uncoordinated display of a full on overkill. To the fighting Mesprits, it was a sign that they were gonna get owned, big time.

Taillow fluttered up and down, unsure where to go to be safe from their attacks. "Can we stay alive if we do nothing?" he asked, visibly disgusted by this option.

Corphish gulped. "Dude, hide me."

"Dude, you're gonna have to face this."

"But dying suuucks," he moaned.

Skorupi eyed down Zoroark, sending an unspoken message of '_Yeah, THAT was your best decision yet.'_

Ampharos's eye twitched, an obvious sign that this would seriously suck.

Furret trembled, her tail swishing in front of her. She glanced up at Breloom. "Breloom, please help us!"

His hands wrung the transcript as he looked onto the field, all these preparing attacks overloading his brain.

Absol was the first to attack, charging forward straight at Taillow. Lilligant and Lampent each sent Energy Balls at Corphish, but Hoppip's hopping disrupted their aim slightly (Hoppip wasn't even focused on attacking; just bouncing).

Taillow gave a squawk as Absol's Night Slash connected with his torso, sending him spiralling to the ground. One of the Energy Balls connected with Corphish's claw, but the other one strayed enough to hit Skorupi, which didn't do that much damage.

Unlike Meowstic, Breloom never tried to hide how much his shoulders heaved, or how much he was hyperventilating, or how much his eyes darted from each attack that was sent at half of his team.

"Breloom..." Furret said nervously, eyes widening when she saw that Numel was preparing his attack straight at her.

It only took a moment for Breloom to lock his eyes on Furret and Numel, long enough for his mind to process it. His lips kept moving in a nervous stammer, unable to say anything coherent.

And as Numel finally shot out a large stream of flames straight at her, Furret cried desperately, "BRELOOM!"

"_FURRET, DUCK!_"

She gave an 'eep' as she dropped to the ground just as the Flamethrower propelled above her. Once the sound of crackling flames died out, Furret raised her head, breathing heavily. She turned incredulously at the podium.

There, Breloom was still gripping the edge, leaned over and breathing deeply but slowly. Everything was silent aside from that. His panic attack was gone, and his face stayed blank in its panting state, his mind still unsure if he actually yelled that out or not.

His expression broke, replaced with an incredulous burst of laughter seeing Furret safe.

Furret, in turn, gave a grin so wide that Inkay had a rival.

Ampharos cheered and pumped a fist in the air. "It's about time!"

Like a switch had finally clicked to _'Leadership—ON'_, Breloom leaned forward and made a grand gesture to the other team. "Ampharos, Fire Punch on Lilligant!"

She gave a holler and rushed forward, both fists clenched back and spurting flames.

With a grin, Lucario ordered, "Lampent, intercept that attack!"

Ampharos sprung into the air, roaring as she hurtled herself and her outstretched flaming fists straight down to Lilligant...

...But that attack never made contact. Lampent floated above Lilligant just in time for Ampharos's Fire Punches to his her in her lamp torso. Instead of busting through her, the Fire Punches stayed sustained on the glass, keeping a confused Ampharos in the air. The flames immediately extinguished, and Ampharos crashed to the ground.

"The heck...?" Taillow said weakly, stumbling on the floor. Still not fainted, but just barely.

Lampent bowed her head down to Ampharos. "Flash Fire. It's good to always come prepared."

Ampharos groaned, head still smushed on the floor.

Azelf tsked, levitating Ampharos from the field. "Five to four. Things are looking sharp."

Breloom was on a roll. He immediately called out, "Corphish, Sludge Bomb on Lilligant or Hoppip!"

"Two targets!" He smirked, toxins circling up in his claws. "Now that's a thing I like!"

"Absol!" Lucario called out as Corphish shot forward. "Stop him with Toxic!"

Absol deftly sprung into the air, paws seeping with purple toxins.

Breloom yelled, "Intercept him with X-Scissor!"

Skorupi, being the only one with that move, was more than ready to spring into action. Just as Absol brought himself down to the rushing Corphish, Skorupi tackled him right out of the air, her pointed tail slicing an X in his torso, however that was possible. They fell to the floor, but Skorupi was the only one who stood up.

"Four all!" Azelf shouted.

"Not for long!" Corphish smirked, sending a goopy sphere that completely drenched Lilligant.

Lucario gritted his teeth. "Lilligant!"

She was hunched over on the ground, barfing in a similar vein as Krokorok. "I-I don't understand," she gasped as he tried catching her breathe. "I have Leaf Guard, why..."

Lucario stared gravely at the sky. He was able to stare without squinting, as the clouds had gathered together once more. The effects of Sunny Day had ended.

And that meant her ability was completely useless.

She moaned weakly, her face turning a sickly shade of purple.

Breloom frowned. "Sheesh. You're really that strong, Corphish?"

Corphish shrugged. "Sure. It's definitely not because she's badly poisoned or anything."

Breloom glanced to Taillow. "Taillow, use—"

"STOP!" Lilligant shrieked, an arm raised while the rest of her was hunched over. "Stop," she repeated more calmly, using both arms to clutch her stomach. "I'm done. I can't... I can't fight anymore."

Azelf shrugged. "Suit yourself. Telekinesis, ahoy!" Once he lifted Lilligant back to the bleachers, he addressed the remaining seven. "Mesprits actually have the lead! Corphish, Furret, Skorupi and Taillow versus Hoppip, Lampent and Numel. Four to three!"

Lucario called out, "Energy Ball on Corphish! Toxic on Furret! Sunny Day!"

"Dig to dodge!" Breloom countered. " Taillow, take that Toxic attack! Skorupi and Furret, use Cross Poison and Headbutt on Hoppip! Don't let her use Sunny Day!"

Lampent fired an Energy Ball, and Corphish dug into the ground just as it whizzed over where he was five seconds ago.

Numel tried shooting toxins towards Furret, but Taillow took her spot when she headed towards Hoppip. The avian staggered a bit, but smirked as his face tinted purple.

Hoppip floated up and smiled at the clouds. "Hiya sun ready for round tw—_OOF!_"

Furret had launched herself in the air and nailed Hoppip with a Headbutt, sending them both crashing downward. As Hoppip raised her head woozily, Skorupi sliced a poisonous X on her face, knocking her unconscious.

As Azelf levitated Hoppip away, Lucario wrung his hands on the edge of the podium. "Lampent, Calm Mind! Numel, Earth Power!"

"Taillow, Brave Bird at Lampent!" Breloom yelled, then bowed his head to the hole Corphish had made. "Corphish, wherever you are, brace yourself!"

There was no reply, but that could've been because the ground was too thick for any voice to penetrate it.

Lampent calmed herself, somehow raising her special stats. Taillow shot forward, going so fast and so recklessly that when he hit Lampent, he didn't stop until he crashed into the dome, two feet away from Lucario's podium. He staggered up, wincing as the effects of Toxic ran through his system. And yet, he still stood grinning.

Lampent, however, didn't stand a chance.

"Upupupu!" Azelf laughed. Seeing the odd stares those from the bleachers and Rotom were giving, he cleared his throat and said a bit awkwardly, "Uh, four to one," while levitating Lampent back to the bleachers.

Numel yawned, apparently unperterbed at being the last not fainted Uxie. Planting his hooves firmly on the ground once again, he called upon the powers of the Earth. Almost immediately, the ground spurred out in dirt geysers all around the arena. Most of them didn't even hit any of the other team, but he struck gold when one geyser shot up with Corphish in tow. At its peak height, all the geysers dissipated, sending Corphish crashing to the ground.

Azelf leaned forward. "Dude, are you dead?"

Corphish didn't move.

"Whatever." The host levitated Corphish back to the bleachers. "Three to one!"

Numel eyed the two girls in front of him, calculating his odds. And then he remembered Taillow. Glancing behind, he wasn't all that surprised to see the avian staggering towards him. Eyebrow quirked, he said, "What do you think you're doing?"

Taillow gave no answer. He kept moving forward until he was face to face with the camel, at which point, his tired, pained expression added a smirk.

Numel figured it out immediately. "Oh crap."

Breloom commanded, "Endeavor!"

With the last burst of strength, Taillow gave a fierce, desperate jab right at Numel's head. The camel immediately crumpled to the ground.

_'Oh crap'_ indeed.

The Mesprits's cheers were so loud, the arena rumbled.

Azelf blew his whistle. "And in a stunning turn of events, the Mesprits get one point to the Uxies's two! They might actually win this!"

Breloom pumped his fist in the air. "WHOO HOO!"

Furret jumped up in the air, high enough to give Breloom a flying tackle hug, knocking them both on the podium's floor. "I'm so proud of you, Breloom!"

He was seriously hoping she wouldn't see him blushing. "Uh, yeah! But you were amazing in the battle!"

"Only 'cause you led us to victory!"

Azelf sighed, blowing his air horn so everyone would shut up. Once everyone was frozen in movement and looking at Azelf (and that included Furret and Breloom's current pose, the latter blushing hard enough to burst into flames if that were possible), he said, "You're not out of the woods yet. You've still got one, maybe two battles left."

"Oh..." Masquerain started. "Do we have enough of us fit to battle?"

"Probably not," Azelf said. "So, I want you guys to get together and have the leader pick two Pokemon. You have five minutes. Go!"

* * *

_(Uxies)_

Krokorok yawned. "It's pretty obvious we're switching to double battles."

"Or two single battles," Lucario added. He swept his gaze over the team. "Who doesn't feel fit to fight?"

"I got poisoned," supplied Krokorok. "I'm still reeling from that."

Lampent raised a ghostly hand, showing a gaping hole in the middle of it. Closer examination would reveal that it was stitching itself together gradually, though everyone was still freaked out. "This may take a while to heal," she shrugged.

Rampardos couldn't answer, since he was still fainted. That Foul Play really did a number on him.

Hoppip, despite being sliced in the face, was bright and cheery, doing her own thing around the gym. Igglybuff, wanting to be with her friend, followed her.

Masquerain didn't have enough strength to fly, so naturally, she wasn't an option.

Kricketune, though perfectly fine, raised a petite hand. "I don't wish to harm anyone, if that's okay."

"Like, me neither," Spheal said. "It stinks having to hurt other Pokemon, y'know?"

"I won't force you to battle if you don't want to," Lucario reassured them.

Absol, although awake, was busy mending his wound, thus being a poor choice to send out.

Masquerain held up her notebook, scribbling down those left available. Apparently she had enough energy to write. "We could send out Corsola, Lilligant, Furfrou, Numel, or Helioptile. Ah, and Girafarig."

Helioptile rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, uh, I don't want to go against Hippopotas, and they're probably gonna send him out since he's a powerhouse."

Corsola yawned. "Whether he is or not, I think I'd be at a disadvantage battling. Any Fighting- or Ground- or, Arceus, Grass-type moves and I'll be a goner."

Lilligant twiddled her leafy hands. "I want to, but—"

"_No_," said Lucario sharply.

She was taken aback. "I'm sorry?"

"You haven't fainted yet. That poison is still running through your system," he explained.

Although just the mention was enough to make Lilligant gag expectantly, she swallowed hard and lied, "It's fading away, though."

Lucario gave her a hardened gaze, enough to pierce through any soul. "I'm not letting you harm yourself."

**%%%**

**Lilligant: Am I supposed to be offended that he doesn't think I can fight, or touched that he cares enough to put me out of harm's way? _(She thinks about this for a moment.)_ I'll go with the second one.**

**%%%**

"So, you three," said Masquerain, referring to Numel, Furfrou and Girafarig. "Who will be sitting out?"

Numel opened his mouth to speak, though a sharp, gruff voice interrupted him before he could begin.

"Let me guess, you're bailing again?" accused Furfrou.

Numel's mouth was agape in shock for a split second before reverting to a neutral smirk. Brow raised, Numel said, "I've done my part."

"Really? Is that why you're awake so fast?" Furfrou challenged.

"And just what are you implying?"

"I'm _stating_ that you pretended to faint, else you'd still be unconscious."

Numel had to keep himself from gritting his teeth. In truth, this was rather smart of Furfrou; say it in front of the fourteen onlooking Uxies, making it a spectacle. Of course, it was only clever in one aspect, and Numel was determined to make sure that stayed true.

With an almost theatrical scoff, Numel said, "Don't make me laugh. Everyone knows a Normal-type with Guts and low health can cause serious damage with an Endeavor that's boosted for being the same type. There's absolutely no way to fake that."

Furfrou didn't back down. "Yes, we know that. We're not idiots."

**%%%**

**Numel: Yeah, it's not like you've antagonize half the team. _(He rolls his eyes.)_ Using 'we', he's roping the others with him without them even knowing it. Now that... _(He forms a wry smirk)_ ...will make this a fun challenge.**

**%%%**

Numel made a set of faux tsking noises. "Putting words in my mouth, that's not very professional, is it?"

"Neither is mocking," Furfrou shot back.

"I don't understand why you're making such a big deal out of this," Numel shrugged. "If you knew anything about my species, it's that we're resilient enough to bounce back after losing." A complete fabrication, but he doubted that anyone studied any species besides their own.

"If you're so resilient, why not go for round two?"

"Because I don't want to. Just that one battle was physically taxing to me."

Furfrou glared at him long and hard until, finally, he stepped back, conceding the verbal battle. "I'm battling," he said sharply.

Lucario, who had been sitting back watching the debate, stood up right and regarded Furfrou with a neutral expression. "If you're sure—"

"I _am_ sure!" Furfrou interrupted sharply. Whipping his head to Girafarig, he said, "And she's fighting too."

Girafarig was, of course, too busy talking to her tail to notice anything.

Furfrou pulled Girafarig along to the field, and he stopped only briefly to give Numel an ominous glare.

"Ooh, I'm so scared," mocked Numel towards Furfrou's retreating form.

**%%%**

**Numel: He's going to try and vote me out, that much I know for sure. The question is, does the team prefer his word over mine? This... might be tricky.**

**%%%**

_(Mesprits)_

Breloom frowned, looking over the team. "Uh, I'm pretty sure everyone is tired, right? Like, eleven of you guys fainted." Most of everyone was awake now, though. The only one who weren't were Ampharos and Corphish, and Taillow was dozing off, still poisoned but trying to get it to seep from his system faster.

"Twelve," Zoroark pointed out. "Mr. Mime is off who knows where."

"We only need two of us," Floette said. "Who wants to go?"

"I do!" Skorupi said, raising her tail up high. "I didn't get to do much last time, so why not go for round two?"

"Great!" Breloom said. "Anyone else?"

There was a moment of stillness before someone raised a hand. Or, well, a yellow tentacle thing.

"I'd better go too," Shuckle said, lowering his appendage. "I'm over that burn, and I'm the most sturdy one here."

Dunsparce bumped his head on Shuckle's shell. "Dude, you sure about this?"

Shuckle shrugged. "Sure as I'll ever be. I don't think anyone else wants to battle anyway."

A bunch of halfhearted, confirmatory murmurs rung out within the team.

"Okay," Breloom said. "Skorupi and Shuckle, get on the gym floor."

The duo high-fived, and they waddled towards their destiny.

* * *

Azelf gleefully clasped his hands together. "That was fast, thanks for being fast."

Rotom cleared his throat, resulting in a sharp look from the host.

"What, Rotom?"

"Save the witty banter; we need this challenge wrapped up," Rotom sighed.

Azelf put a hand gently over his heart. "You think it's witty?" he asked, eyes tearing up with joy.

Rotom gave him a flat look.

"Fffiiiine." Returning to the challenge at hand, Azelf motion to the two teams. "Trainers, pick one of your selected two."

"Skorupi!" said Breloom automatically, pointing dramatically from his podium.

Lucario was more passive. "I'll choose Girafarig."

"Seriously?" Azelf asked. "The Psychic against the Bug?"

"I'd prefer to save Furfrou for last," he said simply.

Azelf shrugged. "Whatever. Shuckle and Furfrou, go back to the bleachers. You'll fight in the final round, assuming the Mesprits win this one and not the Uxies."

The two complied, and Skorupi readied herself on her side, growling not so menacingly. Girafarig didn't seem to be paying attention; STILL just talking to her tail, saying, "Yeah, who would've though those two would get together? Evil versus wicked, bleh!"

Azelf, situated on his life guard chair, seemed contemplative. "You know, a fair host would wait for her to stop talk—ready_setGO_!" and he blew the air horn, signalling match four's start.

Lucario gave the first order. "Girafarig, use Psychic!"

To which Girafarig said to her tail, "Then why isn't her fusion name Corundum?"

Silence reigned in for a moment.

Then, somewhat unsurely, Breloom said, "Uh, X-Scissor?"

Skorupi shot forward, jumped in the air for dramatic effect (her finest moment, she would say later in the day), and bolted down, her pointed tailed poised for slicing.

The moment she swiped at Girafarig's head was the moment the latter fainted. Skorupi wasn't even able to finish the X. Just a frustrating /.

It didn't take long for the Mesprits to realize that they were actually tied, and they proceeded to cheer.

Azelf hummed. "Hmm. That was quick. Alright, Skorupi, Girafarig, outta here." At that, he levitated Girafarig to the bleachers. "Shuckle and Furfrou, time to battle. This one'll decide the winners, and also the losers, but you probably could've figured that out."

Shuckle passed by Skorupi, giving her a congratulatory high-five, and he readied himself on the Mesprit's side of the field. Furfrou took his place and bared his teeth at Shuckle.

True to his nature, Breloom fidgetted with anxious nerves. But he was still on a roll, and he was able to push that aside.

True to his nature, Lucario studied the opponent, gauging just how tough this battle will be.

Azelf stood in the middle of the arena, air horn held in his fidgety hands. He glanced to Shuckle... Then shifted his gaze to Furfrou... And he blew the horn, floating up and away from the beginning of the end.

Lucario called out, "Retaliate, and do it fast!"

Furfrou barked, bolting forward.

"Shuckle, Defense Curl 'til you can't curl anymore!" Breloom yelled.

Shuckle prepared to retreat into his shell, but Furfrou had already hurled himself straight at Shuckle's squishy head and neck. The duo tumbled to the ground, and Furfrou was the first to stand up, panting and looking at Shuckle's shell in order to see the damage.

Unfortunately, all that was there was_ just_ Shuckle's shell. The squirmy devil was curling in the safety of his rock exterior.

"Fall back!" ordered Lucario. "There's nothing else to do. Keep your distance and use Cotton Guard as much as you can."

With an annoyed sigh, Furfrou walked back to his side, fluffing his fur all the way. By the time he made it back, his fur was at it's maximum fluff level. At some vantage points, you couldn't even see his snout.

By that time, Shuckle returned outside his shell, content his defenses were the best they could be.

"Double Team!" Breloom yelled.

Now, Shuckle are a notorious species for being slow as molasses (made up for by their stellar defenses), so a move that would usually require super speed is predictably not an option for Shuckle. Instead, through all defiance of logic, shimmering clones magically littered the playing field.

It's pretty obvious that Pokemon are weird like that.

Furfrou snapped his jaws at a clone that materialized beside him, and while that successfully got rid of the illusion, it also gave Furfrou a mouth full of his own fur. Gross.

"Stay back!" warned Lucario. "You'll only run out of energy if you try ridding of all these Double Team clones. Stay somewhere you can't be attacked."

Furfrou bounded for the wall, but was frustrated to discover that this dome was so sleek and cool that climbing for safety was a no go.

Breloom commanded, "Toxic, let's go!"

All the Shuckle spat out purple globs of Toxic. The entire arena was littered with them in a matter of seconds.

Lucario murmured a curse under his breathe. "Forget about cover. None of the clones moved, so the real Shuckle is still on his side. Just stay over here, and let him wear himself out."

"Better said than done," muttered Furfrou bitterly.

And it seemed they reached an impasse. Shuckle was watching Furfrou in harmless amusement, while Furfrou was watching Shuckle in scornful bitterness.

Breloom was debating on whether or not to use Gyro Ball, on the off chance that would ruin things. Lucario knew the only move left was Gyro Ball, and if that was used, it was all over.

The problem was, there was absolutely nowhere else to go. Nowhere else, and Lucario was still trying to find a way out in vain. It was hopeless.

All hopeless...

And then, hope! Lucario's eyes rested on a certain part of the dome, not quite on the ceiling but not quite on the wall. It was a single, Mr. Mime sized hole, way back from the second battle.

Eye harden in resolute determination, Lucario said to Furfrou, "Forget everything I said before."

"_What_," Furfrou said sharply, flatly, whipping his head to glare at the jackal.

"Do you know where the real Shuckle is?" Lucario continued.

"...Maybe," said Furfrou finally. "I could be wrong."

"Take the chance. I want you to run towards him, and once you get to the middle border line, I want you to jump on him, then leap from him to that hole. Keep a grip, and don't fall off on either side. Do you understand?"

Furfrou nodded, readying his paws. "I understand."

And he bolted forward, just as Lucario instructed.

And he jumped just as Lucario instructed.

And he landed on Shuckle—the real Shuckle—and leaped from him just as Lucario instructed.

Now, most reality shows would have you expect that, from that impossible distance, comedic reality would set in and he would fall to the ground. But this isn't you're cliche reality show; as Azelf had said shortly before beginning the season: _"We're gonna be new, spunky, daring, awesome! The players are gonna outwit, outplay, and outlast!"_

Curiously enough, he had gotten quite a few lawsuits just from that, and no one was even recording him saying that.

Back to the battle. Furfrou, against all odds, triumphantly hooked his front paws over the hole and squirmed up so as to have all paws rested on the admittedly jagged glass.

Breloom was a bit shocked by this. "Whoa. Okay, uh, Shuckle, use Toxic all over the floor. If he falls, he's poisoned."

Shuckle broke apart the Double Team copies and spat toxic globs all around that part of the floor.

And now, it was purely a battle of patience. So, pretty much another impasse.

Breloom noticed this pretty quickly. "Shuckle, use Gyro Ball on the wall! Try and shake him outta this!"

"Hold on with all your might!" Lucario hollered just as Shuckle proceeded repeatedly hitting the dome wall.

"You know," Azelf said, pausing after each crash in the wall. "If he—falls out of—the dome to the out—side, he's—...out!"

To his credit, Furfrou was doing his damn best to hang on. But after a combination of dozens of hits to the dome structure, as well as a bunch of sharp glass piercing his padded paws, he knew he could hang on no longer. The question was, where would he fall? Outside, ending the battle, or inside, simply drawing out a losing fight?

With no shame whatsoever, he unceremoniously fell to the grass outside.

The benched Uxies had their mouths agape, and the Mesprits did too.

It was Azelf who finally ended things. "And in a stunning turn of events, with a score of three to two, the winners are _THE MESPRITS!_"

Immediately, all the Mesprits cheered, rushing up to the arena to congratulate each other. Furret and Skorupi and soon the entire team picked up Breloom and Shuckle and chanted their names as they marched out the door.

The Uxies... They did nothing. Just glance at each other with ominous fear with each look. So invested in that, no one went to help Furfrou. Not even Lucario. He, wordlessly

"All injuries and status conditions still in your system, Rotom's got Lum Berries and Max Potions for it," Azelf said. "Uxies... I'll be seeing you guys again tonight."

And so Azelf left, leaving the teams to their own devices. But what could the Uxies do, though, when one of them was destined to leave?

* * *

_(Later that night, outside the Uxie's cabin)_

Numel yawned, reclining his head on the banister of the porch. The moonlight was comforting; warm yet cool, giving off a vibe of sweet dreams and lunar light beams.

"Don't get too comfy."

He turned to see Furfrou, not at all surprised, but still irritated for him ruining the mood. "Oh, trust me," Numel smirked, "I'm much comfier than you on the grass outside."

Furfrou bared his teeth, preparing to snarl, but he forced the fury down and kept his expression distastefully neutral. "Correction: DO get comfy, because it's the last time you will be."

"Trust me, honey," he mocked sweetly, walking away to the campfire pit. "I don't plan on leaving any time soon."

Numel heard the dog's next remark, though he wished he hadn't. "You just jinxed it."

* * *

_(Elimination Ceremony)_

"Welcome back, Uxies, and good to see you've all voted," greeted Azelf as the sixteen players filed into their seats. "Seems to me that voting Magmar off just screwed you more. Which is ridiculous, but hey, at least you can get rid of someone annoying again!"

"Just get on with it," Krokorok snapped.

"Tou-_chy!_" Azelf said. He held out a platter of marshmallows. "These here are marshmallows—"

"Seriously, can we keep something constant?" Helioptile asked.

"Excuse you, I am the_ host_, and what I say goes!"

Rotom leaned towards Azelf and whispered just loud enough for everyone else to hear, "Actually, it's what the producers say."

"Irrelevant!" the host snapped dramatically. Directing his attention back to the team, he said, "Now, for those with no votes; first, Lucario. Awesome job, brah."

Lucario caught the marshmallow.

"Spheal, Igglybuff, Hoppip, apparently people like you enough to keep you around."

Coincidentally, all three caught the marshmallows in their mouths.

"Lampent and Lilligant, and Corsola and Masquerain, nice job."

They each caught theirs pretty tiredly. Straining the body can do that to an individual.

"Kricketune, you did awesome. Take a marshmallow."

Unlike last time, she actually tried to catch it, though she ended up slicing it in half. Kricketune pouted.

"Rampardos, Absol, Helioptile, get your treats."

They caught theirs. It's not like they'll automatically do something unique with them.

"And then there were four," Azelf said, regarding Krokorok, Girafarig, Numel and Furfrou. "You all have a reason to be here."

"I don't!" Krokorok protested.

"You'd be right. You only have one vote, and so does Furfrou." He tossed the marshmallows to the two of them.

Krokorok slumped back, muttering something about finding out who voted for him. It was no coincidence that Lilligan fidgeted in her seat at that moment.

"Well, well, well!" Azelf said, shifting his eyes from the inattentive Girafarig to the uncaring Numel. "Girafarig and Numel. Girafarig... and Numel. Has a nice ring, don't you think? Ah, whatever. Numel, are you surprised you're in the bottom two tonight?"

"I'd be more surprised if I wasn't," Numel sighed.

"Well put. I'd ask Girafarig a question, but there'd be no point."

At that, Girafarig gasped at her tail. "No! He's doing a great job hosting! What? You so can't do a better job, come on!"

Amused, Azelf held the last marshmallow up in the air. "The final marshmallow of the night goes to...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"...Numel."

The camel caught the marshmallow in his mouth, munching on it mockingly to Furfrou, who gritted his teeth.

"Girafarig, your time is up," said Azelf.

Girafarif just kept talking to her tail. "No, that's silly. Clones, c'mon, it's not like the scientist dad would go that far to keep them."

Azelf sighed. "Rotom."

Rotom sighed. "Azelf."

"Get her to the boat."

"Sure." Rotom dragged Girafarig by the hind legs and dumped her into the Boat of Losers, which immediately started off and officially eliminated Girafarig.

Azelf turned to the remaining fifteen. "I don't expect you to show up here next time. So make sure you live up to my expectations. You're dismissed."

Everyone dispersed, but Furfrou stepped in front of Numel and said, "It was dumb voting for me, you know. You don't have the numbers to—"

"Okay, will it get you to shut up if I tell you that my vote was for Girafarig?" Numel said sharply.

Apparently, it did get him to shut up.

"Looks like someone's turning within your ranks, even more so than most of the team." With that, Numel walked off, satisfied. Furfrou just stayed there, glaring daggers at the back of the camel's retreating head.

And Lampent was off to the side, staring at Furfrou with a glint in her eyes that she didn't just suspect what was going on; she knew, before the ceremony even started.

* * *

_(Campgrounds)_

With such a full moon, it was light enough for anyone to see the landscape outside. For Breloom, it was nice to take a walk he could actually see.

"You did great today!"

He turned to see Furret, and all notions of keeping it cool were burned to ashes. "Oh, uh, h-hey, Furret."

She smiled, catching up to him and walking the same speed as him. "You completely turned the challenge around. Because of you, we won!"

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Heh, yeah..."

"You were so brave..." she continued, revealing a bit more emotion than she should've.

Breloom was only focused on one key word. "B-Brave? Come on, I'm not, I'm not brave."

"You were in this challenge," she grinned. "If you could do this, you could do other freaky things."

"Maybe..." he shrugged, then admitted, "I'm still not sure how I did this today..."

"Well, you did, and that's what matters." And, to the shock of an intensely flustered Breloom, Furret gave him a hug. Releasing her grip after a few seconds, she said, "I'll see you tomorrow, Breloom. Good night!" and started off to the cabins.

Breloom couldn't be sure whether to be confused or honored or just jumping for joy. He settled on a slight blush with a content smile.

* * *

_(Campfire pit, after hours)_

Azelf sighed contentedly, reclinig against a lawn chair he had taken out. The fact that it was night didn't seem to bother him. Rotom just stood there, rolling his eyes at Azelf's needless chair.

"Four episodes in, and we're a hit!" he said giddily.

Rotom gave a grin as well. "Yeah, we're doing much better than the hundred other shows that didn't even get past two episodes."

"I'm telling ya, dude. Nothing is gonna ruin this moment."

_Donuts! At the Big Donut, yeah!_

Rotom stared blankly as Azelf wordlessly took out his cellphone, the device buzzing while the R&amp;B song played. He answered it just as the ring tone got through the line, _They make the world go round!_

"This is Azelf, what's up?" A squabbly voice was heard. "Yeah? ...What? Seriously? ...What do you mean the sun's melting the Sinnoh deserts? ...Are we seriously as far from the sun as Venus used to be now?"

"Wait, then why aren't we dead?" Room asked, but Azelf was too invested in his phone to answer him.

"So the sun just magically moved closer o us and you think I had something to do with this? ...Come on, don't be silly, ha ha, don't call this number again." And with that, he immediately flipped his phone shut. You know, because flip phones are apparently still a thing.

"Who was that?" Rotom asked urgently.

Azelf chuckled nervously. "Uh, the dudes who work at that space station, on the island in Hoenn. ...Remind me to ban Hoppip from using Sunny Day."

"Ban?"

"_Forever._"

* * *

**Votes:**

**Girafarig (9): Lucario, Absol, Helioptile, Numel, Krokorok, Masquerain, Corsola, Igglybuff, Hoppip**

**Numel (5): Furfrou, Spheal, Kricketune, Rampardos, Girafarig**

**Furfrou (1): Lampent**

**Krokorok (1): Lilligant**

**Voted out: _Girafarig_, Magmar, Meowstic**

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I'm not gonna even apologize for long chapters or late ones. Turns out writing battle scenes is so fun and so taxing. I love it!**

**So, Girafarig's gone. I'll be honest, Girafarig is the sole character that has no plot whatsoever. I planned for her to be a normal chick, 'cause Girafarig are rad as hell, but there were too many sane contestants. So I made her just a gag character that isn't even funny. She's a bomb of a character, but she was always planned to be third out.**

**Speaking of which, don't think I didn't think to put a nine-obsession reference in. Girafarig placed 32nd, but if you make the two into an exponent, you get 3^2 (three squared), which equals nine.**

**... It's funny, blegh.**

**So, we have some rivalries. Furfrou doesn't like how Numel is lazy in challenges, and we'll be seeing just how he copes with his 'vote out Numel' plan backfiring in his face, as well as expand on just how some players view this rivalry (could you even call it a rivalry if they're not competing against each other?)**

**And we have references. If you can tell what's referenced right off the bat, then you must have an interest in those things that are referenced and therefore I love you forever.**

**What else, what else...**

**If you have any questions about non-spoiler stuff, confused about something, or are just really curious about the writing process, feel free to hit me up with a PM! Even though I don't update all too often, I'm on FanFiction pretty much every day! I love discussing things with you guys!**

**_Next time: Episode 5, "Trivial Pursuits":_ The teams compete in a trivia contest, questions ranging from random factoids to tidbits and secrets about some players. One team loses, and one player pays the price.**

**Stay tuned!**


	5. Trivial Pursuits

**Hello, hello! Updated fairly soon, here is the fifth episode of Pokemon Drama Island.**

**If you remember, the Uxies lost and got rid of Girafarig. Furfrou's pissed at Numel, Lampent's miffed at Furfrou, and Mr. Mime is off in Canada. Let's go!**

* * *

_(Outside the cabins)_

"HOPPIP THAT'S NOT HOW YOU PLAY FOOTBALL."

"Yeah, it is," said Hoppip as she chucked a soccer ball at Venipede's face. "You Unovans call it soccer, literally everyone else ever calls it football."

Venipede shook her head, trying to shake off the soccer ball imprint that was stinging her face. She looked up to glare at the floating grass cat thing.

**%%%**

**Venipede: First it was the one brained twins, Inkay and Spheal. Then Skorupi didn't get off my back. Just when I finally have some peace, this lunatic starts hurling soccer balls at me, calling it football. Can I file a lawsuit?**

**%%%**

Just as Venipede stepped out of the confessional, she bumped into a waiting Azelf. "What the—Okay, if this is about the lawsuit, I JUST said it two seconds ago. How did you come so fast?"

Even though Azelf had on his serious face, he couldn't help but grin. "I immediately show up at every lawsuit. Just how the world works for me."

Hoppip suddenly popped up from behind him. "Wow, me too!"

He didn't glance back, but Azelf did curl his mouth into a flat scowl. "Hoppip."

"Yeeeaaah?"

"I was KIDDING. I just do a bunch of psychic stuff. You, on the other hand... That's probably the only thing that could make sense for you."

"Yeah!" Hoppip agreed. "Like how I popped up behind you! No one knows how that happened, do they?"

Exasperated, Azelf put his hands to his sides and turned to face Hoppip. "I don't think anyone would want to know, dudette."

Hoppip shrugged. "Tomato, pot-8-os."

"You can't use my joke!" Azelf gasped, theatrically wounded. "It doesn't even make sense like that!"

In response, Hoppip started gnawing on her tail, a kawaii desu expression on her cat like features.

Azelf patted her head goodnaturedly. "This is why you're a fan favorite."

She stopped nibbling to say, "But there's only five reviews or something, and the only one that specifies a fan's favorite says Ampharos is their favorite."

Azelf kept patting gradually harder to slowly lower Hoppip down and in to the ground. Content, he grinned and turned around. "Now then, Veni... pede?"

She was nowhere to be seen.

Azelf groaned.

%%%

As Venipede waddled through the woods, she started ranting to herself. "Crazy Hoppip... Crazy host... Crazy Skorupi, crazy everyone, crazy reality show. Why do I attract all the crazies?"

A rustling sound made Venipede stop in her tracks. Her antennae bristled, searching any and everywhere for the source. They zeroed in on a bush in front of her, confirmed by the bush rustling again.

"Who's there?" she asked, body tense.

The bush didn't rustle again and, against Venipede's better judgement, she slowly approached it until she was directly in front of it.

"I'm warning you, if you're planning on tricking me or something, you'll be feeling my wrath," she said.

When the bush gave no response, she brushed aside the sticks and leaves...

And gasped.

%%%

_(In the woods)_

_"Into the woods... something something, journey! The way is clear! The light shines—"_

Zoroark picked up the tiny Floette and brought her to his eye level. "That isn't helping," he said, letting go of her.

As Floette floated to the ground, she said, "Helping with what?"

"If you must know..." He glanced behind the back of a tree and frowned at another empty result. "...We're looking for something."

Her eyes gleamed, though thankfully not as the move. "Who are we looking for?"

"Mr. Mime, of course," he said, rifling through a bush. "Who else but?"

"Oh. Okay."

It was silent searching for a few moments until Floette piped up again. "Why are you looking for him anyway?"

Zoroark scoffed. "Maybe it's because I want to make sure he's okay."

"Nnnope, try again."

He glanced back to her, smirking. "Alright then. It's a game play strategy."

Reclining on her flower, she said, "Tell me more!"

"Mr. Mime is a good finalist contender," he explained as he used a stick to poke the insides of a tree's leaves. "He does the challenges, he doesn't participate in any sort of drama, and he's got a good head on his shoulders. If not being a finalist, then at least a perfect leader."

"But why do you want him to be a leader so badly?"

"Simple; because being a leader means being a target." Twirling the stick around, he strode back to Floette. "Whether it's being a scapegoat or leading in a way the team doesn't like, it's incredibly easy to get the boot if you're the leader."

"Wow, that's so smart!" she said as Zoroark passed her. "You'll definitely get far in the game for sure!"

He grinned. "That's the plan. Stick with me, kid, and merge'll be right around the corner for you."

Floette eagerly clutched her flower and followed after Zoroark.

%%%

_(Uxie's cabin—Boys's side)_

The situation in the room was surprisingly similar to the Awakeathon; see how long you could last in the room where Furfrou was glaring with all intent possible at Numel. The only dude not present was Lucario, who was off meditating somewhere.

The first to crack was Rampardos, who left when the atmosphere got a bit too heavy. Krokorok left next. He just bailed, strolling out of the room.

For Absol, he didn't leave so soon. With Krokorok gone, he took out some sheets of paper and was ready to read from it, but found it difficult with Furfrou's anger so distracting. He hopped down from the bed, some of the paper falling with him, an regarded Helioptile, who was hiding under his blanket with only his tail sticking out.

"You're their friend, am I right?" Absol asked.

"Me?" Helioptile responded. He popped his head out and said, "Yeah, I guess so."

"Any chance you could convince them to reconcile their differences?"

Numel responded before Helioptile could. "Believe me, this feud is one sided. Isn't that right, dear friend?" he asked Furfrou with mock kindness.

"You irritate me," the glaring Furfrou snarled.

Numel raised an eyebrow to Absol, saying wordlessly_, 'See?'_

Absol gave an exasperated sigh. "So, no chance, then?"

Numel shrugged.

Resigned, Absol picked up the sheets of paper and started back towards his bed.

"Hey," said Helioptile, noticing the papers. "What are those?"

Absol raised an eyebrow. "I mentioned them about a week ago, just before the Awakeathon. Don't tell me you weren't here."

The lizard shrugged. "Yeah, I'm not in here that much."

Numel smirked. "Hiding under tables must be an effective time waster."

"Shut up," growled Furfrou to Numel.

Helioptile continued his conversation with Absol. "So what are those?"

Absol sighed, as if talking about it would lead to something he didn't want to deal with. "Lines."

"Perpendicular?"

"No," he said. "Lines from ancient text. They prophesies events to come in this game."

"So... prophecies?"

"Ancient ones, yes."

"Can I see them?"

Absol clutched the papers he had in his paws protectively, almost in an instinctual way. Realizing this, he forced himself to relax. "I'll quote one of them to you." Clearing his throat, he said, "'_Hidden evil walks abound, Awakened by the ghastly frown'_.'"

Helioptile's reaction wasn't all too preferable. "...what does a Gastly have to do with this?"

Absol sighed, collected his papers and headed towards the door. "Please knock some sense into these two, Helioptile. Thank you."

With that, he left, leaving Helioptile the sole third party against the duo.

Helioptile shifted his eyes to the snarling Furfrou, then to the apathetic Numel. He opened his mouth to speak—

"Shut up," Furfrou growled to Helioptile, not even taking his eyes off of Numel.

"What?"

"You were about to speak. So don't."

"But I—" Helioptile fumbled for a response, only to realize he didn't have one. With a flustered sigh, he moaned, "Aren't you two supposed to be friends?"

That made Furfrou's glare break away from the camel, only to be directed at Helioptile. "Excuse me?"

The lizard was unable to meet such a fierce gaze, and he muttered, "You guys got along well on the first day."

"Hey, I'm not the one holding a ridiculous grudge," Numel pointed out.

And that got Furfrou's fierce glare back on Numel's track. "Shut up."

Numel shrugged. "You know I'm right."

Furfrou gave a low warning growl.

Before any fighting could take place, the intercom flared to life._ "You know the drill, campers. Go towards the beach today. We're gonna have... eh, let's go with 'fun'."_ It fizzled off.

Helioptile sighed, put the blanket over his head, and waddled out of the cabin, wondering if the two of them would ever leave for the challenge.

* * *

"Hey, are we missing someone? Maybe two?"

Rotom nudged Azelf's side. "How many should we have left?"

"Thirty-one. God, Rotom, you're supposed to be the smart one."

"I only paid attention to Magmar's elimination! I wasn't even there for Girafarig's!"

Azelf gave him a funny look. "If you weren't there, how do you know she got the boot?"

"I'm not hearing any insanity right now, apart from you."

Someone from the group of campers cleared their throat. "If you're just about done, then can we please just start the challenge?" The speaker was, of course, Zoroark.

The mere presence of the fox got some gears turning in Azelf's brain. "Hey, hey wait. You and Floette, don't you always have Mr. Mime with you?"

Zoroark made his best attempt to look mournful. "Well, after he went rocketing out of the gym last challenge, the two of us went out to find him. Sadly, he was nowhere to be found."

"Yeah, that's because _I_ found him."

Everyone turned as Venipede emerged from the bushes of the forest, Mr. Mime in tow. Some of the Mesprits crowded around Mr. Mime, clammering for answers.

"You're okay!" Hippopotas.

"Where did you go?!" Floette.

"I thought you were dead!" Corphish.

Mr. Mime gave a polite chuckle, gently pushing the Mesprits away. "Friends, please, there's no need for alarm. I'm as right as rain."

Mr. Mime joined into the crowd, the few mobbed Mesprits doing the same. Venipede muttered angrily, grumbling something along the lines of, "That's nice, don't even thank the one who FOUND him..."

Content that all thirty-one were here, Azelf directed the teams's attention towards him. "Now then, behind me, you see two booths suspended over water. And Taillow, if you ask how they got here, I'll make you scrub the toilets with a toothbrush, got it?"

Taillow's beak, opened and prepared a moment ago, clasped shut.

Azelf motioned his hand to the booths. In truth, they seemed pretty alright. It was like two sections of a movie theater seating area were thrusted away to be used for his challenge. The seats were posh and red, and were generally unthreatening.

"First things first, I want you guys to get onto those seats. Mesprits to your left, Uxies to your right."

Rampardos looked over uncertainly. "Uh, those have to be six feet high."

"And suspended over water, yes," Azelf nodded. "Your point?"

"What if we fall in?" He asked, wincing at the mere thought.

Azelf chuckled in a sinister was. "Oh, don't worry. That'll be the least of your problems!"

Rampardos was silent for a moment. Shifting his eyes, he said, "I'm just gonna..." and stepped behind Lucario for cover, despite the fact that the jackal was half his size.

Azelf beckoned for the campers. "Get on up there, guys!"

And, uncomfortably, they filed in. Those who could fly, like Taillow, Natu, Hoppip and Masquerain, got to their seats with relative ease. The three Water-types had no trouble at all swimming and bounding up to their seats. The more athletic Pokemon were able to bound up in one fell swoop, like Lucario, Zoroark, Ampharos and Absol.

Then came to those who actually fell into the water. Rampardos, natural, failed to jump for the booths and ended up almost drowning. Shuckle couldn't really jump too high, so he was stuck slithering weakly in the water. Munchlax's reason should've been obvious.

Azelf sighed and Psychic'd the last few who failed to reach it up in the remaining seats. Now that the teams were where they should've been, Azelf and Rotom floated in between the two booths. Azelf was giddy and Rotom was bored.

"How's it working for you guys?" Azelf asked, though something about his smile made it clear that he wasn't going for idle conversation. More like he was savoring their last bits of naivety.

"Uh..." Breloom said, Azelf's tone ticking off some red flags. "I think—I don't think I want to be doing this anymore." He stood up.

...and was immediately forced back down by a dark purple aura.

"What the—?" Try as he might, he couldn't wrench away from his restraints. Whipping his head around, he discovered that almost everyone was pinned down by the same dark binds.

Rotom, eyes glowing a dark purple to match his ghostly holds, smirked. "That should be enough."

"Not quite..." Azelf snickered as he supplied his own restraints to, specifically, Taillow, Furret, Munchlax, Dunsparce, Furfrou, and Helioptile. "Now you guys can't get up. You can still move and stuff, but no bailing."

Furfrou struggled against his bonds. "Is that really necessary?"

"Duh. Rotom can't affect Normal-types." He nudged Rotom's side, snickering. "Doesn't this remind you of the good old times?"

Rotom gave him a glance. "Excuse me?"

"You know, us using our powers and stuff? Those were good times, huh?"

"Not really."

"Aw, c'mon, not even when we first met?"

"You _kidnapped_ me," Rotom said flatly.

"But it _led_ to the good old times!"

Krokorok groaned. "Save the stupid banter and just get on with this."

Azelf rolled his eyes theatrically, which seems really cool with the glowing magenta eyes. "Fine, you big baby. Listen up, gang!"

They listened up. What other choice did they have?"

"Now, today, your challenge is gonna be to own up to stuff about yourself. Pretty straightforward. Like Truth or Dare, minus the dare and _plus_..."

He took out a remote and pressed a big red button. Immediately, the entire lake below them crackled with electricity, and a bunch of Eelektross poked their heads up and winked.

"The Eelektross!" Azelf finished giddily. "If no one owns up, the team I'm asking the question to will take a liiittle plunge. So Water-types, types that don't mind water, your team will also get a little shock, so everyone gets punished in one way or another."

A lot of players glanced down and gulped.

"There are a few constants you should know. One, the questions will ALWAYS refer to a member from the team I'm asking the question to. If I'm addressing the Mesprits, then the answer won't be a Uxie. Two, you can own up to your thing yourself, OR someone who knows it can own up for you. Either way, you'll get a point, but maybe some rift in your team for ousting your fellow teammie. And three, they will only be questions about the players. No random factoids or anything like that."

At that, Rotom frowned. "Didn't your promo for this episode say the questions _would_ include random factoids?"

"Nnnope, you're wrong."

"You're naming the episode Trivial Pursuits," Rotom shot back. "Trivia _includes_ random factoids. You're going to have a lot of angry letters after this, you know."

"On-with-the-show!" Azelf said quickly, blaring an air horn to signify the start of the challenge. Turning to the Mesprits, he said, "You first. Ahem. Question one; Which one of you knocked out their blind date?"

When no one answered immediately, the Mesprits shifted their eyes anxiously, hoping for someone to just own up already.

Thankfully, with an exasperated sigh, Skorupi raised her tail. "It was an accident, alright? He was trying to sneak up behind me and be all romantic, and I was the one who had the blindfold on, and... yeah, you know how this thing goes."

"Why did you have a _blindfold_?" Hippopotas asked.

Skorupi gave him a confused look. "Isn't that the point of blind dates?"

Azelf said, "Your team gets the first point, and the benefit of staying dry." He turned to the Uxies. "Now you guys; Who has an intense fear of sharp objects?"

It was a tense moment before Kricketune raised her arm uncertainly. "Would it happen to be me? I only have a mild discomfort of sharp objects though."

Something poked her from behind. She turned, seeing Rotom brandishing a large sheep sheer. Needless to say, she shrieked up a storm.

As Rotom went back to Azelf, the latter smirked. "I'd say it's safe to assume it's you. Point, Uxies."

Turning back to the Mesprits, Azelf said, "Which of you once drank the entirety of their home's lake?"

All at once, their eyes shifted to Munchlax in perfect unison. Military soldiers be damned.

Munchlax waved his hands as if to dispel anyone wanting to claim for him. "Not me! I'm all for food, but water just goes right through me!"

"It could explain how a removed lake wouldn't affect the ecosystem," Mr. Mime shrugged, "if it was... er, replaced just as quickly."

"Yeah, it's gotta be him," Skorupi supplied. "He drank all that soda at the party a few nights ago. I don't think any could chug down as much as he can."

"Come on, guys!" Munchlax groaned. "You gotta believe me?"

"Is Munchlax your final answer?" Azelf asked with feigned politeness.

A Mesprit sighed, bringing the team's attention to them. "No, it's me," groaned Corphish. "How do you even know this?"

"I have my sources," Azelf smirked. "Either way, point. Now then—"

"Wait," Skorupi interrupted. "You drank an entire lake?"

Corphish hid his face, though not out of shame. More like he didn't really wanting this to be focused on. "Yeah, does it matter?"

"How'd you do it?" she asked, eyes gleaming in curiosity.

"I dunno, it was years ago. Can we get on with the challenge already?"

"Corphish, I like you, so I'm gonna let it slide," Azelf reassured the crustacean. "I expect a lot of confessionals though, got it?"

"Got it," he repeated, sighing in relief.

"Good. Now then..." Clearing his throat, Azelf shuffled the note cards in an overly professional way. "Uxies, which of you once ate the snow off of a Vanillite?"

Lilligant gasped, covering her mouth with her leafy hands. "That's awful!"

"Oh, shut it," Krokorok grumbled, raising a hand. "That was me, alright?"

"Yup," Azelf nodded. "Point, you guys."

Lampent leaned forward so her quizzical look would be noticed by Krokorok. "Why would you do a thing like that?"

"I thought it was ice cream," he shrugged. "Who cares? It's not like having no snow killed him."

There was a moment of silence before Lampent decided to press forward. "What did he look like? Without his snow, I mean."

"Round. Blue. Icy."

If she could've frowned, Lampent would have. "That's it?"

"What, were you expecting a five page essay?" Krokorok scoffed, punctuating it with a glare. "Don't test me, Ghost. You don't want me annoyed."

With a little sigh of defeat, Lampent gave a shrug of acceptance and leaned back to her seat.

"Alright, Mesprits," Azelf said, turning to the team in question. "Which of you has an affinity for flowers?"

There was an unsure moment of silence that was broken by a equally unsure Floette. "Me? I've never heard it phrased like that, though."

"Correct," said Azelf. "Now then—"

"What? That wasn't a secret!" Krokorok said, now thoroughly annoyed. "That was just some fact!"

Exasperated, Azelf shot back, "Look, frankly, it's HARD finding secrets for all thirty-four of you. We took the best we could get."

Floette gave an apologetic shrug to Krokorok, though given the fact that Floette was still smiling absently from her good fortune, that apology wasn't really accepted by the Dark type. He sulked in his seat, arms crossed and grumbling.

"Alright then, next question," Azelf continued. "Uxies, which of you... oh ho, this is a good one. So, which of you got conned out of your college money by a Pyroar in a wizard's cloak?"

Krokorok perked up slightly, furrowing his brow upon realizing that he probably knew this. "I'm pretty sure that was Rampardos, right?"

Azelf nodded. "Yup! That gets a point, even if Rampardos didn't answer it himself."

Krokorok didn't bother trying to hide his chuckling at the fossil 'Mon. "Seriously, dude? College money?"

Rampardos didn't look all that embarrassed. Just pretty down. "Yeah... That's why I don't bet anymore. And why I can't go to college unless I get more money."

Azelf gave him a sympathetic look. "Cheer up, dude. You're not the only one who hasn't gone to college."

At that, Rotom snorted, a small smirk on his face.

Taking a moment to elbow his co-host, Azelf turned back to the Mesprits again. "Mesprits, which of you once started an earthquake when they woke up?"

Hippopotas sighed. "That was me."

**%%%**

**Hippopotas: I kind of rolled out of bed, and my hooves just hit the ground and... well, you know how it goes.**

**%%%**

"That gets you a point," Azelf grinned. He turned back to the Uxies and held up the next notecard. "Okay, Uxies! Who is..." He trailed off, frowning as he read the entirety of the card's text. "Who is their own grandmother?"

Hoppip raised one of her head leaves, looking somewhat bored, surprisingly. "And my own mother, cousin, auntie, grunkle, and uncle grandpa. Get with the times, Azelf, that's way too obvious!"

"...Yeah," Azelf said, deciding to let that subject lie dormant. Still a bit unnerved, he turned back to the Mesprits. Again. "So, Mesprits. Who among you has never frowned once?"

"Inkay," chorused the fifteen teammates not named Inkay.

"Yup!" Azelf smirked, perking up quite noticeably. To the Uxies, he gave the next question. "Which of you loves children's cartoons?"

There was a moment of silence, and any fun the Uxies felt was immediately washed away upon remembering the Eelektross infested waters threatening them much more now.

The host grinned, his still glowing eyes flashing a brighter pink. "Oh, is someone actually not going to own up? I'll even give you a little hint; some of you like children's cartoons, but only one of you actively keeps it a secret from everyone else!"

The next five seconds were spent by almost everyone on the team giving anxious glances to one another, trying and failing to find someone whose face would tell that it was them.

Azelf tsked. "Oh well..." He held up the remote with a big yellow button, his thumb placed right above it. "See you next FALL!"

And with one press of the button, the entire team plummeted into the lake, gargled screams and zaps of electricity ringing out. It only took five seconds, but from the looks of just about everyone involved when they came back up, it wasn't hard to believe that they spent much longer down there.

With a completely false smile, Azelf said, "So, how was it?"

Even though they were the only ones unshocked, Numel and Krokorok gave respective annoyed and dangerous glares to the host. Lilligant and Hoppip seemed the least affected, only shivering slightly and jolting from the residual electricity still in their system a lot less than the others (though Hoppip enjoyed the jolting much more, even giggling after each shock).

Corsola, Spheal, and Masquerain, though largely unaffected by the water, kept spasming with shocks the most. Masquerain had to stop flying and sink into her seat completely, as she was faring the worst.

Kricketune, Igglybuff, and Absol were taking equal amounts of discomfort from both the electricity and the shivering.

Furfrou seemed more angry than discomforted than anything, and Lucario took the shocks and cold water with barely a wince.

Rampardos was probably taking it the worst, slinking back into his seat while his electric spasms were shaking the entire section of seats.

Helioptile groaned, as if he got sick from eating too much candy. "Too much electricity..." he muttered, head stuffed into his ears.

Lampent moaned woozily, and every shock that went though her body made her momentarily intangible, everything but a faint outline see-through. If she weren't bounded by Rotom's powers, she probably could have floated into the seat and out the other side.

**%%%**

**Lampent: _(She's patting her domed head feverishly, then turns to the camera.)_ My flame is okay, right? It didn't go_—(She's shocked again, and she sinks down halfway into the floor before she becomes tangible again.) (Realizing that she's stuck, she sighs dejectedly.)_**

**%%%**

Azelf winced, now getting a good look at how messed up everyone got. "Yikes. Let that be a lesson not to skip out of any more questions."

"That was a dumb thing to skip out on!" Hoppip said, still giggling. "I mean, thanks, this was fun and all, but who'd be THAT ashamed of watching a children's cartoon?"

**%%%**

**Furfrou: _(He's glaring a bit to the side of the camera, visibly fuming. After a few seconds, his eyes snap straight at the camera. Demandingly, accusingly, he says:)_ What. _What._**

**%%%**

Azelf shrugged. "Too late now. Let's hope the next team doesn't get too big a lead." With that, he turned back to the Mesprits. "Now, which of you completely FLIPPED when they lost a children's card game?"

When there was no immediate answer, Azelf frowned. "Is... Is no one really going to answer this?"

Still silence, most of the Mesprits glancing to each other or to the electrified waters.

With an exasperated groan, Azelf said, "Seriously? That's just... You JUST saw what the Uxies went through, you..." He trailed off, shaking his head. "Okay, fine. You guys want to be masochists..."

He brought out a remote with a bright pink button.

"Be my guest!"

The scene was practically identical; a press of a button, screaming campers plummeting into the waters that lit up like a firework show. After another five seconds, the section of seats came back up, with the Mesprits now just as soaked and shocked as the Uxies.

As the only Ground type, Hippopotas was only affected by the water, shivering all the while. Munchlax wobbled in his seat woozily, visibly ready to hurl all over the Ground type if needed.

Dunsparce and Shuckle were both equally affected by the shocks, and they found out the time lapses between each bouts of electricity made for one pretty sick beat.

Mr. Mime and Natu were both very unresponsive towards the strings of lightning that were dancing around them, the former reacting with mild discomfort and the latter only wincing a bare amount.

Venipede, Zoroark, and Skorupi were only neutrally affected by both the water and the electricity, similar to the trio from the Uxies team.

As types weak to Electric, Corphish and Taillow were spasming the most from the shocks that just kept coming.

Floette and Inkay were faring the best, though it seemed a bit forced from Floette's end. Her face twisted into a painful wince, trying her best to keep a grin on her face. Inkay, however, was all giggles, even more so when the electricity jostled her around.

Furret moaned weakly, putting a hand up to her mouth to keep her from barfing. But that was nothing compared to Breloom, who shook violently in a fetal position, puking off to the side (his seat was, fortunately, at the farthest edge).

Only Ampharos was actually taking this well. She may have been hunched over panting, but that was more from the recovery from such a fast fall, not from the water or shocks. She was still able to crack a grin that still had more readiness than anyone on her team. "Nice try, Azelf..." she said, looking up to face him. "That was like a rollercoaster ride."

Frustrated, Azelf said, "Are you serious?"

On the Uxies side, Hoppip said, "Yeah! That was so fun!"

He glared at both teams for a few moments longer before curling his lips into a dangerous grin. "Fine. If this is too easy for you..."

His eyes turned from a wispy magenta to a blazing pink, the same colored aura surrounding both of the teams's seating areas. With two arms strokes upward, the seating areas immediately mimicked the actions, rocketing upward like the world's most backwards rollercoaster.

Whatever screams any of the campers had were lost in the wind, and by the time they stopped, everyone was completely screamed out.

Azelf floated up casually, Rotom at his heels. With a grin, he asked, "Is this fun?"

In response, Breloom shrieked.

Azelf's grin just became wider.

Breloom's entire body started racking violently, the only part even remotely still being his eyes. They stared down the edge of the seats, refusing to pry their gaze away. What used to be a six feet high view of the lake was now high enough for half the island to be seen.

"H-How high are we?!" he gasped out.

"Not too high," Azelf shrugged. "Maybe a few hundred feet higher than the cliff."

Breloom's mouth kept moving, but all that came out was a weak, strangled squeaking noise.

Furret tried tugging lightly on his shoulder. "It's not too bad, Breloom."

It was, of course, too bad for Breloom. His eyes rolled up in their sockets, and he slinked down into his seat, totally unconscious.

Furret sighed, rubbing his shoulder consolingly, even if he couldn't acknowledge it.

Venipede started fuming, bringing the attention to her. "Nice going, Ampharos. Did you REALLY think Azelf WOULDN'T take that as a challenge?!"

"Hey, don't go pinning this on me," Ampharos shot back. "He was probably planning to do this the whole time!"

"Way to give him the PERFECT OPPORTUNITY."

"Hey, hey!" Corphish interrupted. "Fight later, challenge now!"

"Alright," Ampharos agreed, then spoke to Venipede. "Look, we should be fine as long as everyone owns up, okay? If we all do that, then we won't even have to fall."

"...Fine," Venipede huffed.

Azelf grinned. "That'll be harder than you think. Not all these secrets are as low key as flipping out over a children's card game."

"Who wouldn't own up to that?" Skorupi asked to no one in particular.

**%%%**

**Venipede: _(She's glaring a bit to the side of the camera, visibly fuming. After a few seconds, her eyes snap straight at the camera. Demandingly, accusingly, she says:)_ What. _What_.**

**%%%**

Azelf spread his arms out. "Get a good look of the twelve hundred foot view, folks, 'cause you're gonna be falling that far if you don't own up again!"

Several campers shivered in dread.

Turning to the Uxies, Azelf shot out his question a bit quicker than before. "Which of you once knocked out a newborn Teddiursa?"

Faster than almost anyone else, Lilligant raises her hand. "It was on accident," she insisted. "I didn't–It was my first time babysitting and—"

"Point, moving on," Azelf said, already moving on towards the Mesprits. "Who has an IQ of I66?"

"That'd be me," Mr. Mime said, tipping his hat.

Zoroark gave a low whistle. "One hundred and sixty-six? That's one of the highest I've ever seen."

He chuckled. "Yes, I suppose it is."

"Too high for all of us, I bet."

Mr. Mime frowned in confusion, but before he could say anything, Azelf cleared his throat. "Yup, point, whatever, let's keep going."

Back to the Uxies. "Which of you can't swim, despite the fact that it should be easy?"

"That's totally me," said Spheal, giggling. "It's so hard, you know?"

"Point, good," said Azelf. "Mesprits, this next one is worth two points."

"How does that work?" Floette asked.

Grinning, Azelf explained, "I'll tell you a scenario someone from your team went though. You'll need to figure out who it was, and why they did what they did."

Hippopotas glanced down the edge of the twelve hundred foot high seat. "So, if we get one wrong—"

"I'm nice, you know. I won't make you drop unless you get BOTH questions wrong. One wrong is fine. Are we clear?"

Hippopotas gulped, breaking his gaze away from the ground. "Crystal."

"Good. Okay! This Pokemon didn't jump off the cliff in the first challenge. Who were they, and why didn't they jump?"

"Uhm, by 'jump', do you mean..." Furret asked, trailing off.

"They were counted as a chicken," he clarified.

She frowned, glancing at the still unconscious Breloom, though ultimately stayed silent.

"But that applies to all three of us," Shuckle noted. "Me and Dunsparce and Breloom."

"And we know WHY they all didn't jump," Zoroark added. "So it's not much of a secret for any of them."

Azelf's smile never wavered. "There's another angle you're not thinking of."

Taillow frowned. "What other angle could there be?"

Ampharos furrowed her brow, concentrating on a certain train of thought. "Wait... Meowstic didn't jump either."

"You're forgetting that Meowstic ISN'T HERE," Venipede shot back.

In an effort to not have another bout of bickering start, Skorupi interjected with, "It's not like Azelf SAID it had to be someone here NOW, right?"

Ampharos nodded vigorously, realizing that this was probably the most valid answer. "Yeah. We just had to figure this out!" Looking straight towards Azelf, she said, "It's Meowstic, isn't it?"

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why didn't she jump?" Azelf questioned further. "That's the second question, you know?"

Ampharos just gave a blank stare.

**%%%**

**Ampharos: How am I supposed to know? How is ANY of us supposed to know?!**

**%%%**

Seeing no one else speaking up, Azelf shrugged. "Oh well. Looks like you don't get the extra point."

"But were we sort of right?" Taillow asked. "It was Meowstic?"

"Yup. So you guys only get the one point."

Most of the Mesprits sighed in relief over not being forced to drop again.

"Uxies, this question is also two points." Clearing his throat, Azelf said, "This Pokemon unknowingly won a weightlifting championship match. Who were they, and how in the world did they win?"

There were a few moments of silence before Corsola said, "So it's none of us."

Hoppip snortled. "That's crazy! And so am I! But that's also crazy!" And before anyone else could say anything, she corrected herself. "Well, since no one's speaking up, and unknowingly winning a weightlifting match is the coolest thing ever, that means they're not HERE to own up!"

Most of them were unsure what to say about Hoppip's immediate answer, but Corsola just smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much."

Masquerain caught on. "Ah, so it's either Magmar or Girafarig?"

"It's Girafarig," said Furfrou. "There isn't a single way Magmar could win a weightlifting match."

"Do you have a 'how' for your answer?" asked Azelf. When Furfrou nor anyone else spoke up, he shrugged. "Alright, only one point. The answer really was Girafarig, isn't that weird?"

Furfrou gave a low growl.

"Sheesh. You're such a grouch." He turned back to the Mesprits for their question. "Your question is worth the regular one point. No more daily doubles here. Now then, which of you let someone die?"

That alarmed some of them.

"Hey, hey, hold up," Corphish said. "We went from IQ junk to cliff diving to THIS bombshell?!"

"Yes."

"Wow."

"Mmhmm. Anyone planning on owning up?" Azelf baited.

Terrifyingly, no one had anything to say.

As Azelf reached for the remote, Corphish pleaded, "Someone answer, come on!"

No one did.

And they all dropped twelve hundred feet into the lake.

"Oh dear!" shouted Kricketune, leaning forward in her seat to see the Mesprits still falling crazy fast. "Do you think they'll be—"

The Mesprits submerged into the lake, creating a splash large enough to reach the Uxies, somehow.

"—...okay?" Kricketune finished, now even more thoroughly soaked.

"Let's find out," Azelf grinned as the Mesprit's shot back up almost as fast as they fell. "Well, Mesprits, do you think you're all okay?"

"I've seen the face of Arceus and I'm probably getting screwed over in Superheaven," Dunsparce said numbly.

"That's nice. Uxies, you ready?"

"No," gulped Lilligant.

"Good! Which of you guys can't die?"

Lampent raised her hand. "That's me."

"You're immortal?" Lilligant asked.

"Basically, yes," she confirmed.

Hoppip gasped, eyes widening. "Whoa, so did you get to see some ancient things being built like new?! That's so cool!"

"Uh, no," Lampent said. "No, I'm sixteen. I'm GOING to see things like that in the future, but I'm just as old as the rest of you."

"How adorable! You're not yet cynical to eternal life!"

The Ghost type frowned. "I... guess not?"

"Point, Uxies!" said Azelf. "Mesprits, who is level eighty-four?" He paused, then looked over the notecard again. "Wait, eighty-four? That's—"

"My level," interrupted Natu, of all Pokemon. "Higher than yours, I believe."

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Azelf.

"Not higher than mine," said Rotom.

"No, Rotom, you're still lower than me," Azelf shot back.

"Worth a shot."

"Wait, am I missing something?" Munchlax asked. "What's the deal with levels?"

**%%%**

**Masquerain: Levels are a notion created by humans. It gauges our power, although I haven't seen many people, humans OR Pokemon, referring to it often. I believe it's the result of continuous training, though I've never seen someone as young as Natu reaching such a high power level.**

**%%%**

"Levels aren't something you should worry about," Natu replied, shaking her head dismissively. "Azelf, how about we keep this challenge going?"

"If it's to get off this subject, sure," said Azelf. "Uxies, who is scared of ducks?"

"Magmar," yawned Numel. "It's pretty obvious."

"Yup. That's why it's not a two point question. Point, Uxies." To the Mesprits, Azelf said, "Which of you neglected to fix a power outage?"

After an intensely silent moment, Ampharos groaned and raised her hand.

**%%%**

**Ampharos: So what if I didn't fix that power outage? Just because my electricity's awesome doesn't mean I HAVE to do anything!**

**%%%**

"So generous of you to open up like that," teased Azelf.

Ampharos glared.

"Sheesh. Okay, Uxies, which of you is into acting?"

Surprisingly, no one answered.

Azelf frowned. "Really? This isn't even a secret."

"I bet it's Masquerain!" Hoppip said.

Masquerain frowned. "But I'm no actress."

"But you're a theater nut!"

"I don't ACT in theater, though."

"She's right," said Azelf. "It's not Masquerain."

"Somebody better own up," snarled Krokorok, cracking his knuckles. Of course, he couldn't really beat any one up for it without knowing who it was.

And an empty threat got an empty answer.

Azelf tsked and unceremoniously pressed the yellow button, sending the Uxies plummeting into the lake. Unlike last time, he didn't even wait for the Uxies to rise back up, instead getting straight to the next question. "Mesprits, who almost ate a Swirlix?"

"I thought he was cotton candy..." Munchlax said with an ashamed sigh.

"Yup. Uxies, which of—" He paused, seeing the Uxies just returning from their drop a complete mess. "Wow. That must've been brutal. Ah well, on with the challenge. Which of you girls had no friends prior to this show?"

Igglybuff raised a woozy hand before getting shocked. "Meee... I can see looots of stars..."

Azelf frowned at Rotom. "Do you think these Eelektross are too much for these guys?"

Rotom shrugged. "Maybe they are, or maybe a twelve hundred foot drop has something to do with this. Who knows?"

"I guess," he said, still frowning a bit. Continuing the game, he turned to the Mesprits. "Okay, which of you guys had no friends prior to this show?"

At first, no one answered, and the guys on the team gave each other anxious looks.

"You don't have much time to think, you know," Azelf warned, his hand brushing against the remote with the pink button.

Furret bit her lip as she looked down at the still fainted Breloom.

**%%%**

**Furret: I'm pretty sure it's Breloom, but what am I supposed to do? Out him on something that could probably be a huge major secret? And what if I'm wrong? Then everyone would think that he DOESN'T have friends because I thought he didn't! But if I don't say anything, we're going down into the lake again, and someone might think to blame him because he wasn't awake to claim! _(She moans into her hands.)_ What am I supposed to do!?**

**%%%**

"Last chance, Mesprits," Azelf tsked. "Does anyone have an answer?"

No one paid Furret any attention as she leaned forward, mouth opened to speak...

...And no one paid her any attention as she slunk back, sighing as she decided against saying anything.

Azelf shrugged, pressed the button, and sent the Mesprits down into the lake. "Well then. Uxies, you ready?"

"No," gulped Helioptile.

"Too bad! Which of you..." He paused. "Yikes, this one is pretty bad. Which of you once stabbed a Garbodor?"

When no one spoke for a few moments, Hoppip gave a dramatic sigh. "I guess we're going down again!"

"Yup!" Azelf smirked as he sent the Uxies down into the lake. He whirled around to face the Mesprits, only to come face to face with nothing but air.

"They're still in the lake," Rotom informed him.

"I can see that," Azelf groaned. "Sheesh, they're really sucking today."

Despite falling at different times, both teams arrived back at almost the same time, just about everyone shivering and jittering.

Even though the last few times did nothing, this time somehow made Breloom stir awake. "Ugh... What happened?" A shock went through his body, remaining him about everything that happened in the challenge when hehe was awake. "Oh no... Oh no oh no oh no..."

"Close your eyes, Breloom," warned Furret. "The challenge is almost over."

Breloom gulped, shutting his eyes tight.

"Okay, folks, you're nearing the end," said Azelf.

"Thank _god_," spat out Venipede.

"That means we're going even faster, alright?" He took the silence as an confirmation. "Good. Mesprits, who once stole medicine from the local pharmacy?"

Zoroark raised his hand. "I had to. My mother was getting to be very sick and—"

"Yeah, yeah, you got the point."

**%%%**

**Zoroark: Did I steal medicine? Yes. Did I do it only once? No. Was it for my mother? Not a chance.**

**%%%**

"Uxies, which of you doesn't like drinking tap water?"

"Me," said Corsola. "It's gross."

"Point," said Azelf. "Mesprits, which of you took ballet?"

Dunsparce grinned. "I took it and I rocked it."

"Nice job, dude. Point! Uxies, which of you is nearsighted?"

Numel raised his hoof. "That's me."

"Can you see this?" Krokorok smirked, then made a gesture with his hand that the censors had to blur out.

"Even a blind man could tell what you're doing," Numel scoffed.

Azelf cleared his throat. "This is nice and all, but we ARE going fast, so kindly shut it. Mesprits, which of you has claustrophobia?"

Furret frowned, tentatively raising her hand. "Uhm, me? I guess that's what most people call it."

"Correct. Uxies, which of you has never finished writing a play."

"Now THAT'S Masquerain!" Hoppip cackled.

Masquerain sighed. "Yes, it's me..."

**%%%**

**Masquerain: I must have started countless prompts and the likes, but never have I been able to see one through._ (She sighs.)_ My, I wonder if I can EVER be able to finish one...**

**%%%**

"That gets your team a point!" Azelf said, then clasped his hands together. "Okay, guys! Each of your teams has only one question left to answer! These will decide which of you actually win! Ready?"

Again, he took the tense silence as a confirmation. "Mesprits, which of you has gotten strep throat countless times?"

Shuckle raised a tentacle. "Yep, me."

**%%%**

**Shuckle: It sucks, 'cause I'm best at using my voice.**

**%%%**

"Point! Uxies, your final question is this: Which of you has means of predicting the future?"

"Wait, what?" Rampardos frowned. "What does that even mean?"

"Oh, the basics. Reading tea leaves, future sight–not the move, mind you–prophecies..."

At the mention of prophecies, Krokorok perked up. "Hey wait..." He turned towards Absol. "Didn't you say you read that junk?"

"No, I didn't," Absol replied cooly.

But Krokorok was on a roll. "Yeah, yeah you did! It IS you!"

"It's not me," Absol said, a bit more feverishly this time.

"You're the only one who's actually reading that stupid poetry."

"That's all it is! Poetry!"

"That's not what you said before and you know it!"

Absol struggled against Rotom's ghostly bonds. "I'm warning you, it's not me!"

Krokorok's eyes snapped towards Azelf. "I don't care what he says, he's the answer! It's Ab—"

"NOOO!"

In that moment, Absol bounded forward, the ghostly bonds breaking away. He soared over half the team before clawing down at Krokorok, knocking him and himself out of the seats and down into the air.

Azelf went into action, thrusting the remotes into Rotom's hands and rocketing down to the two falling, flailing Pokemon. As he got faster, they got faster, and it was only at the hundred feet mark that Azelf was able to grab both of them by the leg.

Unfortunately, falling that much only to be immediately stopped wasn't so good for the physics. Azelf swung to the side, crashing right through both the metal structures of both seating areas.

He finally spun to a stop, panting as he glared down at the two Pokemon he had held in his hands. It wasn't long, though, until the seating areas quaked the air as they shot down to the lake, the screams of all the campers sucked into the wind.

Azelf floated away just fast enough to avoid the impact, though the giant wave that resulted caught up and sent the three of them landing on the beach.

Once all the action ceased, Azelf coughed up sand, and he stared wide eyed at the debris that littered the lake. The campers, thankfully, were all only scattered around, nothing more major than a few bruises and multiple headaches.

"Rotom?" he called out, fortunately able to see him floating above all this mess.

Rotom, of course, just sighed.

Absol stood weakly, emerging from the sand and coughing out sand and water. Krokorok followed suit, ending it with a striking glare at Absol.

Azelf joined in with an equally intense glare.

The Disaster Pokemon tried to speak, and he found no words he could use to justify any of this. He bowed his head in defeat, sinking back into the sand.

%%%

Later, once everyone was accounted for, Azelf rounded them all up back at camp.

"Okay, listen up," he said, a lot more tersely than earlier in the day. "Regardless of your minor injuries, you guys still need to know the winner of the challenge."

Both teams, however woozy, looked up in anticipation.

"With a score of fourteen to thirteen, the winners are... The Mesprits."

There weren't really any cheers. The most the Mesprits were able to do were halfhearted cheers.

"Uxies, you lost. So tonight, you're going to the elimination ceremony for the third time in a row."

The Uxies just groaned, too tired to glare at Absol.

"You're excused to do whatever you want before the ceremony starts," Azelf said. "Just don't go back to the beach. We're gonna try and fix it up. Now go."

And with that, everyone shuffled away tiredly. Krokorok spent a moment to give Absol a thumbs down before heading out.

%%%

(Uxie's Cabin, later in the evening)

"So are we clear? You're gonna vote off that mutt?"

"Furfrou is more of a mutt than Absol, you know," Corsola corrected.

Krokorok just gave an annoyed growl. "Vote off Absol, alright?"

Corsola shrugged. "Sure."

Content with that, Krokorok went on his way, probably to convince others to vote for Absol as well.

Corsola waited for a few moments to make sure he was gone. Then, shifting her eyes to and fro, she headed out into the woods behind the cabin, going down a hidden path before managing to find who she was looking for.

"You're not really just going to allow yourself to be eliminated, are you, Absol?"

Absol glanced back, a bit shocked that he was found. He hid that within an instant, turning his back to her again and focusing his attention on the ground. "What am I supposed to do?" he said, voice cracking with every strained word he spoke.

"Anything other than nothing," she said, walking towards him. "At least then, you might have a chance."

Absol didn't speak, his eyes focused intently on the ground. As Corsola sat down next to him, she realized that Absol had familiar scraps of paper sprawled in front of him that he was really focusing on. She just glanced at him, raising a brow. "These are what got you targeted in the first place, you know. Maybe if you don't focus on them you ca—"

"I can what?" he said, almost pleadingly. "Let this go unknown? Let whatever evil is out there run free?"

"Maybe you don't have to do this alone," Corsola shrugged. "Maybe if you let someone help, you don't have to have everything on your shoulder."

Absol just bowed his head silently.

Corsola stood up. "I'm going to help you," she proclaimed. "I don't want to see you eliminated so soon."

Absol didn't speak even when Corsola walked away. He wasn't sure if he could.

%%%

(Elimination Ceremony)

As the fifteen Uxies filed in after voting, Azelf was back to his cheery demeanor. "Greetings, Uxies. The votes are in, and now is the time to see who stays and who goes." He held up a plate containing fourteen marshmallows. "In my hand, I have some tasty yes, Helioptile, this'll probably stay this consistent."

Helioptile shrugged meekly.

"There's only enough for fourteen, which obviously means one of you is going home. And you can't come back EVER. First up, Lucario and Helioptile."

Lucario caught his while Helioptile's bounced off his head.

"Hoppip, Igglybuff, take your marshmallows."

Hoppip's jaw completely unhinged just to catch hers. Igglybuff attempted the same, but somehow couldn't.

"Spheal and Kricketune, you guys did okay!"

Kricketune tried catching hers, having it sliced into two yet again. Spheal managed to bounce hers on her head before eating it.

"Lampent, Lilligant, Numel, Rampardos, you're all safe."

"No votes for me?" Numel smirked, chewing on his marshmallow. "I'd have expected one or something."

The other three caught theirs unceremoniously, though Lampent did drop hers immediately after. Confused, she picked it back up, only for her hand to become intangible, dropping it back on the ground. She crossed her arms thankful that no one was watching.

"Corsola, Masquerain, Krokorok, you're just as safe as everyone else."

Krokorok seemed relieved, but he masked that with a smirk and caught his marshmallow. Masquerain accidentally batted hers away with her wings. Corsola caught hers with her mouth, then took a glance at Absol.

"And so we have Furfrou and Absol," Azelf observed. "Surprisingly, and I mean REALLY surprisingly, the votes were actually fairly close!"

Furfrou seemed almost startled.

**%%%**

**Corsola: I meant what I said when I told Absol I tried to help. I talked with Masquerain, Lilligant and Lampent, Hoppip and Numel. So basically, everyone I knew who wouldn't listen to Krokorok and who'd be willing to vote for Furfrou instead, seeing as how Furfrou does less in challenges than Krokorok. It's a surprisingly large list.**

**%%%**

"With the total votes against them being nine, the one who'd going home is..."

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"...Absol."

Absol pursed his lips. He took a deep breath and stood up. "I expected this. After what I did leading to such a giant mess, I'd be surprised that I'd actually stayed. So, I have this to say! I—"

"Uh uh, no, we're not doing speeches," Azelf interrupted. "Get on the boat."

"But this is important!" Absol protested.

"I don't care. No speech. Rotom?"

Rotom grabbed Absol's shoulders faster than he could react, and started to pull his struggling form to the dock.

"N-No!" Absol spluttered, trying in vain to break the away from the plasma 'Mon's tight grip. His eyes connected with Corsola's, and he cried out, "Hidden evil walks abound, awakened by the ghastly frown!"

Masquerain frowned. "What on earth is he—"

"Shh!" shushed Corsola harshly, paying full attention to Absol.

"Should evil choose to lock up good, we fear this may become their final feud!" Absol tried using Night Slash to break away, but Rotom wasn't having any of that.

Now almost to the dock, Absol shouted out, "Beware the one who dons those charming eyes, For they can do much more than mesmerize!"

Rotom thrusted Absol into the boat, and before it could roar to life Absol yelled out, "Wrath and envy create such scorn, THAT STILL CANNOT EVADE THE FEARFUL STORM!"

And then, Absol could be seen panting as the boat sent him away from the island, leaving the Uxies down to fourteen members.

"Bye Furfrou's brother!" Hoppip waved.

"...What," said Furfrou.

"Well then!" Azelf said, clasping his hands together and turning towards the team. "Looks like that was taken care of!"

"What the HELL was that?" Krokorok asked.

"Like I'd know," Azelf scoffed. "You guys can leave. And please actually TRY not sucking enough to come here next time, alright?"

Azelf floated off, and the campers loitered off uneasily. Soon, it was only Corsola and Masquerain left at the campfire pit.

"And I suppose you're the only one who could make sense out of Absol?" Masquerain asked, wasting no time.

"More than anyone else, yeah," Corsola said. "But now we can make it make sense." She paused, yawning. "But let's do that in the morning."

Masquerain frowned, though ultimately agreed. "Alright then."

And together they left, leaving the atmosphere of the campfire pit to fade for another day.

**%%%**

**Corphish: Okay, Azelf wants his confessional, so listen up! That party, that party was SUPER WILD. So wild, those bets got way out of hand. It was pretty confusing too. I think someone even dug up a hot spring or something. Look, I've had my fair share of parties, and to this day, that was my wildest party EVER.**

**%%%**

* * *

**Votes:**

**Absol (9): Furfrou, Krokorok, Hoppip, Igglybuff, Lucario, Spheal, Kricketune, Rampardos, Helioptile,**

**Furfrou (6): Absol, Corsola, Masquerain, Lilligant, Lampent, Numel**

**Eliminated: Absol, Girafarig, Magmar, Meowstic**

* * *

**A/N: And that's "Trivial Pursuits", aka the chapter where I get lazy with not using italics for emphasis.**

**OKAY SO this was reeeally difficult to write. I mean, it was really tedious to write, and, unlike the Battle Royale episode, not fun at all. I mean, it does give some insight into some characters, and it features the first major elimination, but it felt so repetitive writing all that.**

**Ah well. The elimination itself, yeah, Absol got the boot. He was essentially a Dawn, and that meant an early elimination. He knows more than he should, and yet he doesn't know what to DO with all that knowledge, instead defaultly thinking to hide it, which of course leads to his own downfall.**

**I like Absol, and it pains me to write him off so soon. But that's the way things work. And he's not even plot important, so imagine me with later eliminations, oh my.**

**Thanks to everyone who reads/reviews/follows/favorites/enjoys this fic. I know all these month long update breaks must be horrible. I'm going to try to get these chapters out even faster (and hey, next episode sounds like a fun thing to write, so yay!).**

**Speaking of which...**

**NEXT TIME: "It's Talent Time!": A talent show, aka the most generic challenge idea ever. The campers show off what they consider talent. Whether they fail or not is the fun part!**

**Stay tuned!**


End file.
